HUMBOLDT — Fittingly, the story behind Brady Ross being placed on scholarship by the University of Iowa football program wasn’t glamorous or entertaining.

Just a simple phone call and signature made it official for the no-frills fullback from Humboldt.

The redshirt freshman completed the paperwork in the Wildcats’ weight room on Friday. There were no surprises, props or teammates around to congratulate him — a recent social-media trend for walk-on players granted scholarship status.

That didn’t diminish the magnitude of the decision one bit, though.

”It wasn’t a storybook moment or anything, like with Levi (Peters, who was surprised during a team meeting) at Iowa State (in 2014),” said Ross, a 2015 Humboldt High School graduate. ”Coach (Kirk) Ferentz contacted me earlier this week and let me know it was official, which obviously meant a ton to me. It’s the main goal of every walk-on player. There are so many question marks when you join a program (in this capacity); a lot of things are completely beyond your control.

”It’s very important from a financial standpoint, but it’s about so much more than that. The trust and confidence Coach Ferentz and his staff have shown in me is really a big deal for myself and my family. I appreciate the opportunity, and I’m going to make the most of it.”

The 250-pound Ross was a rookie at the fullback position this past season, earning time alongside Drake Kulic after switching from linebacker to the offensive side of the ball. Kulic suffered a broken leg in the regular season finale against Nebraska, which thrust Ross into a full-time role for the Hawkeyes’ Outback Bowl game against Florida earlier this month.

”Relatively speaking, I’m still a beginner at fullback,” Ross said. ”There were times where I played well, and there were times where I played like a freshman. It’s all part of the learning experience; I have a long road ahead to get to where I need to be as a player.”

Ross, a finance major at the University of Iowa, was recently named an academic All-Big Ten selection as well.

”Football keeps me busy, no doubt, but there are 24 hours in a day. That’s a lot of time if you use it well,” Ross said of balancing school work with practice, workouts and games. ”It’s important to me and to my mom especially, who is a teacher. She really encourages me to always keep my priorities straight.”

While everything has fallen into place for Ross at Iowa, he admitted committing to the Hawkeyes as a preferred walk-on was a big risk at the time.

”There are no guarantees,” Ross said. ”I knew how the coaches felt about me here and knew all about the tradition of walk-ons in the program, with one of the most famous, (former All-American and NFL All-Pro tight end) Dallas Clark, growing up about 10 minutes from my house. But nothing was promised.

”It was hard to turn down incredible schools and programs like Northwest Missouri State and Minnesota State, who treated me so well (during the recruiting process). You go through all of the questions in your mind. Why aren’t the bigger schools offering me? Maybe they’re right and I do lack this or that. But I always felt like I could get to this point at Iowa as long as I kept working hard.”