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Justus Ross-Simmons wanted to redshirt. Following two seasons at Colorado State, the Rochester native’s first season with Syracuse has been marred by a hamstring injury.

The junior struggled to find the field with SU, not appearing in a game until Sept. 20 versus Stanford. Ross-Simmons appeared in the next three games but didn’t record a single catch. The constant injury recovery was difficult and he wasn’t seeing the results. That was until the Orange’s matchup with VT.

On Saturday, Ross-Simmons led SU with four receptions for 88 receiving yards and two touchdowns. His pair of second-half scores helped Syracuse (6–2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) to a come-from-behind 38-31 overtime victory over Virginia Tech (5-4, 3-2 ACC).

“My whole hamstring process took way longer than I expected, with my hamstring bugging me and stuff. But Coach Fran (Brown) said to stay focused, keep on the treatment, and then eventually, if you stay patient, your time will come. And my time came,” Ross-Simmons said postgame.

Prior to his transfer to Syracuse in April 2024, Ross-Simmons was a consistent standout with Colorado State. In 24 games with the Rams, he recorded 71 receptions, 1,148 receiving yards and six touchdowns, earning an All-Mountain West Honorable Mention in 2023.

But since joining the Orange, his injury hampered any chance of returning to form. Brown described Ross-Simmons’ injury as more than just a typical hamstring pull. The first-year head coach said he popped it, a more severe injury. The hamstring issue also caused calf soreness because of the muscles both inserting behind the knee and affecting knee movements.

Brown said Ross-Simmons came to him at one point this season and told him he wanted to redshirt due to his injuries. Brown’s response?

“Redshirt my butt,” Brown quipped with a grin. “You’re about to play this week. You’re gonna take off. You’re a part of what we’re doing, just trust and believe it.”

The Orange have been a receiver by committee team in 2024. Trebor Peña leads the team in receiving yards while Jackson Meeks has proven to be lethal in recent games. Umari Hatcher’s had big plays and younger players like Darrell Gill Jr. and Emanuel Ross have shown flashes of excellence. But with the absence of Zeed Haynes for much of the year, SU has yet to find a third receiver to really stand out.

The door was wide open for Ross-Simmons to take that spot. He received more snaps against the Hokies and took advantage.

Syracuse trailed 21-3 with just over six minutes left in the third quarter. Its once potent offense hadn’t found the end zone and needed to mount a comeback sooner rather than later. Quarterback Kyle McCord dropped back from VT’s 45-yard line with three receivers split out wide.

Ross-Simmons was on an island along the left side, and for the first time, McCord and him connected. The junior ran a 5-yard comeback route, caught it and immediately turned upfield. He broke away from a shoestring tackle and saw nothing but turf in front of him.

As he reached VT’s seven-yard line, he was tripped up by a defender, but he reached over the goal line for a game-altering 55-yard score.

“When I was on the sideline, coach Ross (Douglas) said, ‘J Ross, I need you to make a play.’ I said ‘I got you.’ Went in and that’s exactly what I did,” Ross-Simmons said.

The play brought Syracuse some momentum for the first time all afternoon. But it was also a progression of Ross-Simmons’ journey back to the field. Brown estimated Ross-Simmons was at about 80% Saturday, pointing out a noticeable limp on his long touchdown run. Still, it was the first in-game flash of the player Brown recruited.

“He’s just coming back, and that’s the kid that we wanted to recruit, and that’s why he’s here, and we’re happy he’s here,” Brown said. “The better he does, the better it is for us.”

Despite being on the shelf most of the season, Brown and Ross-Simmons meet regularly. Per Brown, he’s constantly telling the receiver how he needs him to step up and they’re counting on him to break out.

After finding the end zone to bring the Orange closer to the Hokies, Ross-Simmons added a reception on a drive that ended in LeQuint Allen Jr.’s first touchdown, cutting the deficit to three after a two-point conversion.

Then, he gave Syracuse its first lead early in the fourth quarter. At Virginia Tech’s 28-yard line, McCord had two receivers to his left, with Ross-Simmons alone on the right side. The quarterback dropped back, faked a handoff off and found a streaking Ross-Simmons in the middle of the field.

The wide receiver beat cornerback Mansoor Delane inside and caught the ball over the middle just before Mose Phillips III emerged from his free safety position. Phillips collided with Delane, and Ross-Simmons ran freely into the end zone to flip the game on its head. While it was Ross-Simmons’ second touchdown on three receptions, McCord said it’s been a work in progress to connect.

“There’s a few times today in those big plays where I think necessarily, it wasn’t the perfect read, but got him the ball and then he made plays,” McCord said. “So it just goes back to a lot of practice, a lot of reps together that we missed out a little bit on in the earlier part of the year.”

Making the connection was a trial and error process throughout practice, McCord said. But the duo worked things out and Ross-Simmons recorded his fourth reception of the day on SU’s game-tying drive with just minutes to play in regulation.

The Orange later won it in overtime, coming back from an 18-point deficit. Ross-Simmons was a catalyst for the comeback, scoring the first touchdown of the day and eventually garnering Syracuse its first lead.

It’s been a long road to making impact plays for Syracuse this season for Ross-Simmons. But he’s taken it in stride and Saturday emerged as yet another threat for SU’s gunslinging quarterback to share the ball with.

“He busted his butt in the last few weeks to get his body right, to get his mind right. Everybody coming into this game, based on the week of practice that he had, knew that he was going to be a big contributor to the offense,” McCord said. “For him to show up in that type of way, have two really big plays to springboard the offense, that’s huge. And so now the biggest thing is just to continue to ride that momentum.”

Published on November 3, 2024 at 11:21 am

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky