Swinney updates Justyn Ross checkup, says Tigers healthy for Notre Dame

Justyn Ross has been practicing in drills.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Dec 13 20:18:55 GMT-04:00 2020

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney told the media Sunday evening that his Tigers should be healthy when they take on Notre Dame Saturday in the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte. Don’t expect Justyn Ross to be one of those playing even though he has checked off two big boxes in his potential return to football.

No. 3 Clemson will take on No. 2 Notre Dame at Bank of America Stadium at 4 p.m. Clemson opened as a touchdown favorite but the line has ballooned to as much as 11 points in places.

During the first meeting – a 47-40 double OT Irish victory in South Bend – Clemson was without several starters, including linebackers James Skalski and Mike Jones, Jr., and Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly says getting those players back will make a huge difference.

“Well, Skalski obviously is a quarterback for their defense, so you know he certainly makes a difference. The other thing he has is size, you know, so he makes a difference,” Kelly said. “You have to plan for him, certainly, as somebody that you know physically has a different makeup as well. So his size, his leadership, you know, certainly is going to make a difference. Jones has obviously got the athletic ability to play in their defense, in a manner that allows them to do more things.

“But, you know, I think when we start to look at one player making a difference. I think we might be reading a little bit too much into it. It’s the ability for all 11 players to play at a high level, and if he's playing well but three or four other guys aren't playing at the same level, you know, it negates it. But it’s certainly he's going to help having his leadership, I think more than anything else on the defensive side of the ball.”

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said his team used the off date to get healthy.

“I think in the previous seven times we've been in the championship game, we've never had an open date, so that's just how we treated it, like an open date,” Swinney said. “We've been going, this is our 20th week coming up, we've been going 20 weeks of football. That's a long time. It's been managing a lot, these guys have been through a lot. So, the biggest thing was, we're going to treat it like an open date. We had finals going on as well, so we had to really navigate around that. We practiced Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and we had meetings on Tuesday. So, the objective was to get a good head start, get a good foundation to our plan for Notre Dame, and also get healthy. Get some rest.

“Again, we’ve been going 20 weeks, certainly don't want to overdo it, trying to want to peak too soon and those things, but we had a bunch of tests on Friday and then they had yesterday off and then we're back in here today. So, we've had testing today, dinner and then we just got meetings this evening and then we'll start a normal game week tomorrow. Obviously, it's like coming off of an open date, you're a lot further along than you would be, if you just played a game yesterday, so it was a great week. Good focus, the guys are excited and looking forward to a great matchup.”

Wide receiver Justyn Ross (neck surgery) had an appointment in Pittsburgh last week to check on his progress, and Swinney said the doctors were pleased with what they saw.

“It was a great trip for Justin. We're still waiting on a couple of bits of information from the doctor up there. But it was a very positive trip,” Swinney said. “There's basically, where he is right now there's kind of, I guess two big boxes that have to be checked for him for them to, say, 'Alright, go get it.' But I think they were very pleased with what they saw and, the first big box is this test that they put him through I want to say kinematic or kinematic testing. Basically, measuring his movements before surgery and now post-surgery. They were very pleased with the healing of the area, still not quite 100% but it's, I think ahead of what they could have expected. So I think, just that first thing he's in first box and the kinematic test, I think he's in a pretty good place and then they, they just want to see 100% healing. You know, when he goes back but it was very positive and very thankful for that. He's in good spirits and hopefully, you know, just continue to move forward in a positive way.

“And I'll tell you, I just can't say enough about Dr Okonkwo, the job he's done. He's an amazing doctor and Justin's got a lot of confidence in him, and he's got a lot of confidence in himself and again, if y'all could see Justin everyday practice, it's unbelievable. He does everything, except get tackled. He looks great in practice, and you know doing all the things that they allow him to do is in full pads. Again, he doesn't get hit, or anything like that. He's not in competitive situations but does all the routes and drill work and those type of things and he looks great. But you know his injury is one that that we're going to be very cautious with and hopefully, he'll keep moving in a very positive direction and he'll get a full release somewhere in the near future.”