Ernest Ross: "We've Just Been Putting The Work In"

NC State sophomore forward Ernest Ross recently met with the media to discuss his improvements, the upcoming season, and much more.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

On newcomers and practice...
Its great. I like the competitiveness. They just bring it every day. So I just be ready for it.

When it comes to learning from last year, obviously everybody had to go through what you guys went through last year. But how much do you feel like that's made you want this more and made you want progress more?
Last year, just it motivated me a lot since I got hurt, and some treatments. It motivated me to push harder and just be able to be that dog that I am.

Obviously, the freshmen all came from different areas, but what has it been like to be able to have Breon and T back out here again?
Oh man, it's a blessing. They're my brothers, we've been through everything since freshman year, so it's just going to be speechless this year. That's all I can say.

How are you feeling right now, just physically?
Physically, right now I'm a hundred percent.

Perfect. How excited are you for the first day of practice?
Oh man, first day of practice. I so excited. I can't wait until my day comes. I can't wait. So excited. So excited.

How different is that from everything else that you've been doing as offseason?
I would say it's different because  in the offseason we've just been putting the work in and behind the scenes people haven't been seeing what we've been able to do. So, that's I want put out on the platform for people to know that we going to be better this year.

I've asked a couple guys about this, but having Jarkel here, I see him on Instagram like almost every single day. I asked a couple guys this, and they said that it's been more of the team kind of doing that, not just him.
It's very big, because the positives is something that's daily. It means we going to get to where we need to be, just day by day, step by step. So, that's what that means. Yeah.

How much does the team sort of embrace the underdog mentality that comes with finishing last season at the bottom of the conference?
Oh, we embrace it a lot because people, they just doubt us. They don't think we're going to be able to do the things that we can be able to do. So, it's just a motivated thing. For real.

What do you think the ceiling of the team realistically could be?
The ceiling, it could be very high, but it's just up to us for us to fulfill that.