Central's Justyn Ross suffers knee injury

An injury sustained by Central’s Justyn Ross in the opening minute of the Shaw Christmas tournament championship game was revealed to be a tear to the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, coach Bobby Wright said.

Ross had only just returned to the court two games prior to open the tournament after suffering an injury to the medial collateral ligament in the same knee in Central football’s playoff victory over Lee-Montgomery.

“We thought maybe he had just tweaked it, but it just buckled on him and unfortunately tore the ACL,” said Wright, who added that Ross’ expected recovery time is in the neighborhood of 6-8 months.

That timetable will likely keep him out of spring football practice. Football coach Jamey DuBose was unavailable for comment on whether Ross would return for the start of the football season in the fall.

In addition to being expected to be a key contributor for basketball this season, Ross is one of the nation’s top wide receiver recruits for the Class of 2018 in football. He led the team in receiving this past season and showed an explosive ability to stretch the field in the passing game. He caught 34 passes for 672 yards and seven touchdowns, and was named first-team All-Bi-City for Classes 5A-7A.

He already has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky and Mississippi State, among others.

From a basketball standpoint, though, Wright said he was devastated for Ross and that it was certainly a difficult blow to the team.

“You hate to lose a guy like that,” he said. “I hate it for him. He loves the game so much. Hopefully we caught it early in the 10th grade and he’ll be able to come back strong next year.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 9:43 PM with the headline "Central's Justyn Ross suffers knee injury."