Thread by @ETurnerFF_PT

Huge development in college football. Clemson's Justyn Ross expected to miss this year with a congenital fusion in his cervical spine. Surgery coming at the end of this week.

Short thread below.

si.com/college/clemso…

What is a congenital fusion?

Congenital means that the player was born with this condition.

Fusion refers to the fusing or joining of two vertebrae in the neck.

This can also be called Klippel-Feil syndrome.

On Klippel-Feil Syndrome, there are 2 types of this condition in the cervical spine.

Type 1 involves a complete fusion of the vertebrae. This would have been caught early and Ross would have never played football.

Type 2 involves only 2 segments and varies in degree.

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Ross likely only has one pair of vertebrae fused, which could lead to reduced range of motion, headaches, and cervical radiculopathy (nerve pain/stingers) which we know he was dealing with last season.

It can eventually lead to more serious nerve and bone issues.

Not great...

This is a pretty rare condition, about 1 in 42-50K babies are born with it.

There is also conflicting evidence on playing contact sports with the condition.

As mentioned Type 1 would never be able to play football, Type 2 above the C3 level are also contraindicated.

We can safely assume then that Ross' fusion is below the C3 level or the lower portion of his neck. This is good, but the fact that he is having nerve pain does present a hurdle to returning to play.

His surgery and subsequent recovery will dictate if he is able to play again.

I don't know what the next year holds for Ross's football career, but this is a serious condition.

I hope, as with all players I speak on, that he will make a full recovery and play football at the highest level. My heart goes out to him during his recovery.