NFL draft 2022 – Following congenital fusion in his spine, Justyn Ross looks to make NFL history

FRISCO, Texas — The hit that changed everything came on a routine slant Justyn Ross had run hundreds of times.

Only this time, in the spring of 2020, he did not see the linebacker coming, and the force of the collision sent Ross to the turf. Though he felt numbness and tingling in his arms as he lay on the practice field, Ross figured he just got a neck stinger and would be back to normal soon.

Clemson took Ross in for tests to his neck and spine, per team protocols. Within a few days, Ross felt fine and was getting ready for practice when coach Dabo Swinney called and asked him to come to his office.

When Ross arrived, he saw the entire Clemson medical team sitting there, along with Swinney. His mom, Charay Franklin, was on speakerphone. Ross had no idea what was happening. Then the doctors started explaining what they saw on the scans.

This was not an ordinary football stinger.

They told Ross he had a congenital fusion in his spine, a condition he was born with called Klippel-Feil syndrome. Though he had stingers in the past, this was the first time he had any scans on his neck and spine revealing the condition to both Ross and his mother for the first time.

Ross was stunned. The doctors told him he may never play football again. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, those with this condition should avoid activities that can injure the neck.

Tears streamed down his face as Ross listened in disbelief. He played football his entire life with this condition. It made no sense that it was no longer safe. Just two years earlier, Ross burst onto the scene in Clemson’s College Football Playoff championship run, combining for 301 receiving yards and four touchdowns in blowout wins over Notre Dame and Alabama as a true freshman. After a strong sophomore campaign — 865 receiving yards and eight TDs — he seemed on a glide path to the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.

Now he was being told he might never put on a uniform again.

“It…