Former Clemson Star Turns In Monster UFL Week 7 Performance

A former Clemson star looked like his old self again during a huge UFL Week 7 performance.

Former Clemson wideout Justyn Ross had the best performance of his 2026 UFL season in Week 7, torching the Orlando Storm. | Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The United Football League (UFL) kicked off at the end of March, and multiple Clemson alums have taken the field since. But one performance from a former Tiger last week caught a lot of attention.

Justyn Ross, a former True Freshman All-American and National Champion, went berserk for the Birmingham Stallions during their Week 7 matchup. In a 20-17 win over the Orlando Storm, the 6-foot-3 wideout turned in his best performance of the season, hauling in seven catches for 135 yards and one touchdown. 

He was awarded the UFL’s Offensive Player of the Week for his performance.

Justyn Ross was EXPLOSIVE! 💥

congratulations Justyn Ross on winning @progressive Offensive Player of the Week! pic.twitter.com/WUwzcOe597

— Birmingham Stallions (@UFLStallions) May 6, 2026

On the year, Ross ranks tied for 12th in the UFL in receptions (20), and eighth in receiving yards (312). 

He’s also emerged as one of the top options in Birmingham’s passing game, sitting second on the team in receiving yards, just behind the league’s receiving yards leader, Jaydon Mickens, who has racked up 38 receptions for 486 yards and two touchdowns across seven games. 

Additionally, Ross is tied for the second-most receiving touchdowns on the Stallions (2), only trailing fellow former Clemson Tiger Deon Cain, who has established himself as one of the best receivers in the league over the past three seasons.

To understand what stepping on the field in 2026 means for Ross, though, you have to go back a few years.

A borderline five-star recruit out of Phenix City, Alabama, Ross arrived at Clemson in 2018 and immediately looked like a future star. As a true freshman, he totaled 46 receptions for 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns — earning True Freshman All-American honors and helping the Tigers to a National Championship — before torching Alabama for 153 yards and a touchdown in the title game itself.

However, his trajectory took a sharp turn in 2020. Following a 865-yard and eight-touchdown campaign as a sophomore, Ross missed his entire junior year after being diagnosed with a congenital fusion condition in his neck and spine. While he returned in 2021, he was never quite the same explosive threat, totaling just 514 yards and three touchdowns in his final collegiate season.

He declared for the 2022 NFL Draft but went undrafted and signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. He won two Super Bowls with the franchise, but spent the majority of his time bouncing between the practice squad and injured reserve. In 2025, he was released ahead of the season. 

After sitting out the entire year, Birmingham gave him another shot in January, drafting him onto the Stallions’ roster during the second day of the UFL Draft. Seven weeks in, Ross looks like a player with something to prove, and, more importantly, like a player fully capable of proving it.