How the loss of Justyn Ross will affect Trevor Lawrence.
Clemson football got bad news with the season-ending spinal surgery that will keep Justyn Ross off the field this year.
Ross, a rising junior and former five-star recruit out of Alabama who rose to prominence as a freshman in the Tigers National Championship victory over the Crimson Tide, will miss the entirety of the 2020 season thanks to a rare spinal injury he has had since birth known as a “congenital fusion.”
Such an injury is an indictment on the Tigers’ offense, especially considering the murky waters of the depth chart beyond Ross. Clemson enters the season as a National Championship favorite, and failing to reach the College Football Playoff would be seen as an abject failure, even without Ross on the roster. Yet, outside of the man himself, Trevor Lawrence could be a victim as well.
Losing Justyn Ross could impact Trevor Lawrence’s NFL Draft stock.
Without Ross in tow, the Tigers will have to rely on largely unproven players like Amari Rodgers, Joseph Ngata and Frank Ladson. There’s no reason to suspect Lawrence’s numbers will drop significantly enough for him to suffer a steep fall in terms of NFL Draft stock, but Ross’ 865 yards and eight touchdowns will be missed.
While Lawrence is the best quarterback prospect in the 2021 Draft class, he’s been joined by Ohio State signal-caller Justin Fields, who accounted for 51 total touchdowns in Ryan Day’s offense last season. Should Fields build on his first season at Ohio State and Lawrence looks like the player who struggled for the first half of last season, it’s possible Fields could surpass him as the NFL Draft’s top signal-caller.
Lawrence is at the top of the NFL Draft Big Board and considered a generational talent, but crazy things happen with the draft. No one thought Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray or Baker Mayfield would be the No. 1 picks entering their final years in college. While Lawrence would need a significant collapse and Fields would need to do something otherwordly, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for the Ross injury to open the door for Lawrence to drop below Fields.
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