Ross Blacklock

Blacklock's father, Jimmy, played for and later served as a coach for the Harlem Globetrotters. Growing up in Missouri City, Texas, Blacklock became a football star at Elkins High School. Following his senior season for the Knights, he was selected to play in the 2016 U.S. Army All-American Game and verbally committed to play college football at TCU during the broadcast of the game.

After redshirting during his first season on campus in Fort Worth, Blacklock became a full-time starter as a redshirt freshman in 2017, helping lead the Frogs to the program's first-ever berth in the Big 12 Championship Game and a win in the 2017 Alamo Bowl over Stanford. His individual performance earned him Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors as well as Freshman All-American honors from the Football Writers Association of America.

In August 2018, Blacklock suffered an injury caused him to miss his entire sophomore season. Nine months later, he was cleared by doctors to return for his junior season in 2019. Following a junior season where he was named to the first-team All-Big 12, Blacklock announced that he would forgo his senior season and declare for the 2020 NFL Draft.