Utah Utes football: Time for Justin Taplin-Ross to emerge

Utah senior safety Justin Taplin-Ross is already the best in a couple of areas among Ute football players.

Dancing, for one.

"Yeah he's a pretty good dancer," says teammate Brandon Burton. "Every time we're outside of football, he's dancin'. That's like his second hobby. He dances all day, every day."

Taplin-Ross is also perhaps the best athlete on the team, with a team-best vertical leap of 39 inches, 4.5 speed in the 40, a 10-foot-plus standing broad jump and basketball skills that earned him Gatorade Player of the Year honors in high school and several college scholarship offers.

"He's a freak athlete," says U. defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake. "He can jump out of the gym and is a great basketball player. He's one of the most athletic guys I've seen, just really talented."

So where has Taplin-Ross been all these years?

Well, he's been stuck behind all-Mountain West Conference safety Robert Johnson, who has taken his talents to the NFL.

This year, Taplin-Ross is taking over for Johnson at free safety and is expected to be one of the leaders of a young Ute defense.

"Justin is a guy we've always known was athletic, but he was stuck behind Robert Johnson for a couple of years," said Ute coach Kyle Whittingham. "This is his opportunity. Justin is getting his chance now and is making the most of it. He had a very good spring and has picked up where he left off this fall."

Everyone who talks about Taplin-Ross uses the word "humble" to describe him. Another word is "smart," which Taplin-Ross shows on the field as well as in the classroom where he has been academic all-MWC for two years and on the athletic director's honor roll.

Taplin-Ross came to Utah in 2007 and admits, "When they first started talking to me I didn't know where Utah was, to be honest with you."

He remembers watching the 2006 bowl win over Tulsa and being impressed with Eric Weddle and Steve Tate and the rest of the Ute defense.

"I saw practice, I loved how they competed, how they swarmed on defense," he said of his recruiting visit. "I had a good feeling and prayed about it and decided to commit before I even left."

Taplin-Ross played right away as a freshman and mostly played on special teams his first two years. Last year, he played in all 13 games and finished with 29 tackles and three pass breakups and started one game when Johnson was injured.