Senior linebacker for Southern Miss. 2018: 33 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 5 sacks.
5′10″ · 215 lb · Cordele, GA
Recruiting
S recruit
No. 115 nationally · Joined Southern Miss
Statement game6 tackles · 5.5 TFL · 1 sackat Charlotte (FBS) · L 17-20
Top 0.1% tackles for loss game since 2021.
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
4 linebacker for Southern Miss. 2018: 33 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 5 sacks.
Sherrod Ruff
Third year in the Southern Miss linebacker corps, same address the whole way. The receipt: 6 tackles, 0.5 TFL against UAB — Week 11, 2018.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
How it ended
Three seasons at Southern Miss, 78 tackles — his college career is complete.
His career
He was on the field for 3 seasons. That is rarer than it sounds.
Career arc
Coaching lineage · 2016–2018
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Jay Hopson.
Season context · Team result + system
3 seasons under Jay Hopson — 21-16 over that span.
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Elite: tackles for loss (95th percentile). Strength: sacks (95th percentile). Concern: passes defended (19th percentile).
Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.
Splits · Per-game
2018 season · 9 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 2.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 5.0 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 3.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 4.5 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Blake Anderson
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Player standing · 2018
Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Southern Miss | 33 | 23 | 11.0 | 5.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2017 | Southern Miss | 10 | 4 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 2 | -- | -- |
| 2016 | Southern Miss | 35 | 19 | 10.0 | 2.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 78 | 46 | 23.0 | 8.0 | 2 | -- | -- |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2018
W 55–7
2 TOT · 2 SOLO
Dominant 48-point win at home against Jackson State.
With Q. Watkins — 8 rec · 138 yds · 3 TD · J. Abraham — 242 yds · 4 TD · 0 INT · -9 rush yds (2 car)
Game log · Week-by-week
2018 season · 9 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 55-7vs Jackson State | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 20-21vs UL Monroe | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 40-22vs Rice | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 13-24@ Auburn | 2 | 1 | 1.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 7-30@ North Texas | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 6 tackles |
| Wk 8 | W 27-17vs UTSA | 3 | 2 | 2.5 | 2.0 | — | 0 | 2 sacks |
| Wk 9 | L 17-20@ Charlotte | 6 | 5 | 5.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | 5.5 TFL |
| Wk 10 | W 26-24vs Marshall | 3 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 23-26@ UAB | 6 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 33 | 23 | 11.0 | 5.0 | — | 0 |
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
33 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 11 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.