BERKELEY, CA – From the moment Dominique Ross stepped onto the football grounds at North Carolina, he looked the part of big-time linebacker.

Long, lean but strong, and a rawness that had some coaches and teammate salivating at what he could become.

The process in Ross developing into that player hasn’t exactly been over night. He got a taste two years ago and really struggled. He didn’t play much last fall until late in the season, and with UNC’s linebacker group one of many at Carolina ravaged by injuries, Ross started the final game at N.C. State.

He played well before getting hurt himself, but that experience was enough to get some valuable reps on film and increase his hunger. The result of a dedicated offseason in the weight room, on the field fine-tuning his skills and reads, and in the film room was on display in Berkeley this past weekend during UNC’s 24-17 loss at California.

“Dominique was all over the place,” UNC Coach Larry Fedora said during his weekly press conference Monday. “He was physical, he knew his run fits, he fit where he needed to, he tackled very solid, he was physical in everything he did and he did a great job in his coverage.”

Ross, who is 6-3 and listed at 220 pounds, who played leaner against the pass and bigger against the run Saturday, finished with five tackles and four pass breakups. If stats were kept on plays he affected and nearly made, those numbers might read more like 15 and seven or eight, and that’s with Cal eventually making every effort to avoid him.

It was his pass coverage that really stood out, as linebackers covering crossing routes and pretty much every rout they’ve been assigned to handle have been the Tar Heels’ greatest weakness in the Fedora era.

Ross played like he’d been doing it at that level for years.

“He did a great job covering through the middle,” Fedora said following the game. “He played well. He’s athletic, the experience he got last year made him better this year and he’s going to be a good football player.”

Ross, who was one of the available Tar Heels after Saturday’s game for the first time in his career, took his success in stride, sort of like the Jacksonville, FL, native expected it.

“It was just preparation with my teammates,” he said in the bowels of Memorial Stadium. “I’ve been watching a lot of film and going over a lot of things. I just felt very prepared to play this game and I just came out and I just came out and did what I need to do.”

It’s not that Ross hasn’t known all along what he needed to do. It just hadn’t really clicked until now.

“It has slowed down a little bit from last year, but it has always been there for me,” he said. “I just had to lock in.”

And he certainly did that against the Golden Bears.