Florida football: Justin Shorter is quietly having a great year

In a season full of ups and downs for Florida football, one guy is quietly having the best year of his career.

Justin Shorter was a highly touted recruit out of high school, ranked as the 8th best player in the nation. He signed with Penn State but transferred to Florida a year after.

Despite all the stars and hype, he wasn’t breaking out the way many Florida fans had hoped he would. He had some issues catching the ball in 2020, and the offense as a whole was choppy in 2021.

This year, he’s changing that. In a run-heavy offense, Shorter is the guy primarily responsible for the Gators’ passing game. He’s become a true deep threat with his size and has become a very consistent pass catcher.

On the season he has 21 catches for 471 yards and two scores. The stat that jumps out the most is that he’s averaging 22.4 yards per catch. Last year, that number was only at 13.4.

Having a guy who can stretch the field like Shorter is what helps to open up the run game, and create some shot plays for AR. We saw him go deep to Shorter to start off the LSU and EWU games with touchdowns, and he’s made some super over-the-shoulder catches going up the sideline in Knoxville and against Georgia.

His best game of the year came in Florida’s loss to Tennessee. He had 7 grabs for 155 yards, including a clutch grab down the field on a 4th and 2.

After being in line behind guys like Freddie Swain and Trevon Grimes, as well as being overlooked when Ricky Pearsall transferred in, it’s awesome to see Shorter showing the country what he can do.

His performance this year will likely get him some NFL attention he didn’t have during the preseason. He has great size out wide at 6’4”-223 and runs well.

It’s always easy to focus on the negatives, especially after getting blown out by a rival. But we can’t overlook how much better Shorter has been this season, and we have to respect the work he put in to get to this point.

Keep up with Florida football at Hail Florida Hail.