Justyn Ross facing surgery, won’t play for Clemson against Wake Forest
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said one of the worst days of his coaching career was meeting with wide receiver Justyn Ross, his mom and doctors in 2020 to find out that Ross might never play football ever again.
One of the best days of Swinney’s career, however, was seeing Ross run out onto the field at Bank of America Stadium on Sept. 4 and playing against Georgia. After 10 games of the season, however, Ross could be done for the year.
The redshirt junior has been ruled out of the Tigers’ home finale against Wake Forest with a small injury to his fifth metatarsal in his left foot, head coach Dabo Swinney said on Tuesday morning. It was an injury Ross had been playing with all season. He was only hurting during the first two games and, with treatment and a stimulator, was fine in the other eight games.
Against UConn over the weekend, though, Ross tweaked the injury and rolled his right ankle in the first quarter and didn’t return to the game. He did come back onto the field wearing a boot and on crutches. After the game, Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said Ross told him he was OK, though the Alabama native wasn’t.
Ross will likely have surgery on Thursday, Swinney said, which will require a screw being put in his foot. While he’s definitely out of Saturday’s game against Wake Forest (noon, ESPN), the regular season finale against South Carolina is up in the air. If UConn was indeed his last game, he ends the season with 514 yards and three touchdowns on 46 catches.
With Ross out, the Tigers will have to start all underclassmen at wide receiver in Beaux Collins, Dacari Collins and E.J. Williams.
“Nineteen months of not playing football then he played 10 games, man, he’s flying around the field,” Swinney said of Ross. “He’s leaping, jumping, flipping, blocking. What his commitment to his team, his commitment to this university, this program, it’s been amazing to watch. If that’s his last play, then I’m thankful that he was able to come back and play and play 10 games, show everybody what he can do and get his confidence to where it needs to be.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 11:25 AM.
