Cam Ross Earns Two Major Weekly Awards For His Electric Performance vs Coastal Carolina

For the performance that Ross had on Saturday, he has been named both the ACC’s Receiver and Specialist of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday (Sept. 2). Ross is the first player in program history to receive both honors during his UVA career.

Ross was sensational in Virginia’s 48-7 season-opening win over Coastal Carolina (Aug. 30), totaling an ACC-best 224 all-purpose yards. He returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, which tied the longest kick return in program history and marked UVA’s first kickoff return score since 2019. He was one of only two Power 4 players to record a 100-yard return in Week 1. Ross also hauled in seven catches for 124 yards and a touchdown to notch his fourth career 100-yard receiving game, the most of any Cavalier on this year’s roster. His 224 all-purpose yards ranked third nationally in Week 1.

In addition to his recognition from the ACC, Ross, who graduated from St. John’s College High School (Washington, D.C.), was named the DC Touchdown Club Washington Metro College Football Player of the Week. He was also named to Pro Football Focus’s ACC Team of the Week as a wide receiver.

Head coach Tony Elliott could not have been happier with the performance that Ross had and he said he saw it early in camp:

"You know, a couple, a couple days into practice, you saw that that one, he's a, he's a football player, like he's got really, really good football instincts. He's got a great skill set as a receiver. And you felt like, based on what you saw in film from JMU last year, and then the validation of the short area quickness, that he would he would be able to make some plays for you. So just super excited for him. He's a guy that just came in and worked and maybe some of the other guys might have been more talked about in terms of their transition coming in the door, but he's just, he's just a workman. He reminds me a lot of Malik, and I said that before. They're different, and he's got a long way to go, obviously, because Malik did some, some, some exceptional things here, but he's kind of cut from the same cloth. You just see his ability as a football player and also as a return guy, it doesn't say much, very quiet. He just shows up every single day and goes to work."

Elliott also said that Ross is going to lineup everywhere in this offense:

"We initially started him outside at Z and then moved him into the slot, and he's shown the ability to be able to do both, and his natural home is probably in the slot. But he gives us some flexibility. And with the trail coming back off of injury, we needed the ability to stretch the field. So it's really good to get the trail back, which I think those two are going to play off of each other, very, very, very well. And then Jamal gives you that big body to get some of the intermediate, short conversions that you need to keep drives going, so that you can be explosive down the field. And got a chance to play some of the other guys. I saw Tyler, Eric, and Dre Green in there. Got to get Cam Courtney going. He'll bounce back from the muck farm. I know he's a competitor. I know he will. And then we got to play the freshman the first year, receivers a little bit. So it's really good to get all those guys going, but we're going to need every one of them. It's only game one, and it's a long season. That position, there are always some bumps and bruises that come along with it, and we need to continue to grow depth at that position."

Ross and the rest of the Cavaliers will face NC State on the road this weekend (12:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2).