Though the 2020-21 season has yet to commence for the IUPUI Jaguars men's basketball team, the Jags' offseason signings of young, talented players and the returning core of seasoned stars are shaping up as one of the deepest rosters in the Horizon League. 
 
And one of those returning stars — senior forward Elyjah Goss — has all the right tools to be the difference maker and driving force for this year's team. His impact on the team, both on and off the court, is an asset that no other school in NCAA division I men's basketball will have.
 
On the basketball court, a player like Goss is indispensable because his style and mindset is such a rarity: He's a defensive-minded, team-oriented athlete who values collective success over his own individual performance. In today's age of individual stats and accolades being viewed as the pinnacle of achievement, he's a player who is wholly unbothered about those aspects of the game.
 
"If we have great success with the team, then the individual stuff starts to come on top of that," says Goss. "Individually, I mean, there's a couple things I have in mind I would love to achieve [this year] and maybe go above and beyond on. But first, it starts with the team aspect." 
 
According to Scott Gillespie, former IUPUI men's basketball assistant coach and current Illinois State women's basketball assistant coach, Goss's unselfish play and team-focused mindset has always been what distinguishes him from his peers.
 
"With Elyjah, the thing that stood out to us as a coaching staff was just like how hard he played," says Gillespie. "He doesn't really care about how many points he scores or anything like that. He just really is a great teammate and he just has a motor that you just can't really teach."
 
Since joining the Jaguars in 2016 and playing his first season with the team in 2017, Goss has always let his actions speak louder than words. He's been in the team's top five in rebounds, rebounds per game, offensive rebounds and blocked shots in each of his three seasons, making it a priority to always out-work his opponents. 
 
"Rebounding is all about hustle honestly. It's just about hustle and then limiting the other team from having more opportunities to score. Then on an offensive rebounding side of things, getting your team more opportunities to score," says Goss. "I just pride myself on trying to get as many rebounds as possible because it creates more opportunities for the team to score." 
 
And because he's uninterested in being extolled for his individual performance — and because he's currently the longest-tenured member of the Jags — he's the optimal player to step up and act as a leader this year, unifying the team and fostering chemistry the Jags have previously lacked. 
 
"I definitely will have a leadership role because I'm a senior," he explains. "I've got to put it upon myself to be a bigger leader this year especially more than anything." 
 
Coach Gillespie notes that, despite Goss's soft-spoken demeanor and calm temperament, he undoubtedly has the necessary qualities to be a successful leader. 
 
"When you have a work ethic like him, and you have that mentality of always playing hard no matter the situation, I think it's contagious. So, I think underclassmen and younger guys coming into the program, when they see a senior who plays that hard all the time and is going to do the dirty things, I think it's contagious," says Gillespie.
 
But Goss is not an athlete whose impact is limited to the basketball court. His philosophy of valuing the team over himself and shining the spotlight away from his own accomplishments extends to how he conducts himself in his everyday life. 
 
When speaking with Goss, he rarely mentioned his own accomplishments — he briefly referenced the small feat of breaking a few IUPUI men's basketball records last year — but spoke at length about the people who have helped him get to where he is. He offered up several anecdotes about his family, his mom and Coach Gillespie. He acknowledged how impressive his new teammates are, how proficient the offensive-minded players on the team have been and how important it is for this year's Jags team to become only the second team in school history to make it to the NCAA Tournament. 
 
"He's just a unique kid," says Gillespie. "And now just to see what he's done, not even talking about on the basketball court or just in the classroom, what he's done there and just the person he's become off the floor has been really cool to see and to follow." 
 
What can't get lost in the conversation about Goss and his impact, though, is that his individual contributions to the team have been more significant than the average fan can imagine; and they definitely deserve much more praise than he is willing to dole out himself. 
 
For the 2019-20 season, Goss led all Horizon League players in defensive rebounds (246), total rebounds (369) and rebounds per game (11.5). He finished second in the Horizon League in offensive rebounds (123), sixth in blocks (33) and sixteenth in minutes per game (31.1) and was named to the Horizon League All-Defensive team. 
 
And his dominance wasn't just contained to a single conference. Goss wrapped up last season high atop the NCAA men's basketball division I leaderboards in several categories, finishing the year at No. 6 in total rebounds (369), No. 7 in rebounds per game (11.5), No. 11 in defensive rebounds per game (7.69) and No. 11 in offensive rebounds per game (3.84) amongst all division I players. 
 
In December, Goss broke the IUPUI men's basketball single-game rebound record after pulling in 21 rebounds vs IU South Bend. He also broke the IUPUI single-season rebound record during the 2019-20 season, amassing 369 rebounds and breaking the previously held record by 32. 
 
Heading into the 2020-21 season, he currently sits at second place on the IUPUI single-season rebounds per game leaderboard after averaging 11.53 in his 2019-20 campaign, and he's currently fifth on the IUPUI all-time career rebound list with 671. He needs only 99 rebounds to become the school's all-time leading rebounder and will likely eclipse that number easily if the season plays out as normal. 
 
Unsurprisingly, he's also excelled in the classroom, making the IUPUI Academic Advisor list (3.0 GPA or better) in seven of his eight semesters. 
 
But again, Goss doesn't dwell on these accomplishments or aggrandize the work ethic that's fueled him to perform at a consistent enough level to break so many records. When asked about what motivates him to compete, he acknowledges that his family back home — his mom, grandmother and granddad — is what drives him. 
 
"My grandmother worked for over 30-something years. My granddad worked for over 30-something years. [He] still works today," he explains. "My mom works right now and seeing my mom… wake up at three o'clock in the morning and get ready for work and go to work from 5:30 [a.m] to 2:30 [p.m.].... That just puts more fire into me." 
 
Heading into the upcoming year, he will continue to be the athlete he's always been; he'll work hard, hustle and catalyze his teammates in an unassuming but immeasurable way. 
 
And if the Jaguars' season is as successful as the team hopes for it to be, there's a very good chance that Elyjah Goss will have had something to do with it. But he'd probably never tell you that himself.