NOLA Gold Rugby Club re-signed Ross Depperschmidt through the 2024 Major League Rugby season. The 29-year-old center (30 in December) is 6’0″ and 215 lbs.
Ross played in 12 matches during the 2022 MLR season, including 6 starts. He then played in the Premier Rugby Sevens, earning Tip 7 honors in the tournament in Washington, D.C. Currently, he is playing for NOLA Gold Academy in the American Rugby Premiership Fall 2022 season.
Ross played 159 minutes in 3 matches, starting 2, and was on the matchday roster for 5 games in 2021. In 2020, Ross played 138 minutes in 2 matches, starting once, during the Covid-19 shortened MLR season. In 2019 he did not feature in any regular-season matches. Ross also started at the inside center for NOLA Gold Academy against USA Rugby South that November. He also has played club rugby for New Orleans RFC.
Ross is from Flower Mound, Texas, and attended Edward S. Marcus High School where he played football and baseball. He then went to the University of Alabama from 2012-2016, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and continued a the University and earned a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2018.
Ross played rugby while at Alabama and was the co-captain of the team from 2015-2017, the Vice President from 2015-2016, Alumni Chairperson in 2016-2017, and Assistant Coach in 2017-2018. The team won the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference Championship in 2016 and came in second the year before. In 2016 he was named to the 1st team All-Conference and was the SCRC Player of the Year.
Ross has played representative rugby for USARugby South against the Capital Rugby Union Selects in December 2017 and Spring 2018. He also went on the USARS tour to Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic in 2018. Prior to that tour, he played rugby in Matamata, New Zealand.
Ross then joined New Orleans Rugby Club for the 2018-2019 season and played in a NOLA Gold A preseason match. He signed with NOLA Gold later in the 2019 season but did not play in any matches.
In August 2019 he played with NOLA Gold at the Rugbytown 7s with the team earning third place.
Other Articles
DJCoil Rugby articles by Doug Coil are also available on Facebook. Other Social Media sites to follow or subscribe to include Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for interviews.
