This coming Sunday (7/7/13), Cecil Shorts will be leaving for Minnesota to train with Future Hall of Fame Wide Receiver – Larry Fitzgerald. However, Shorts won’t be traveling alone this year. Old roommate, friend and Rookie WR for the Miami Dolphins – Jasper Collins, will be attending the camp with Shorts this coming week. The Fitzgerald Training Camp is renown for producing break-out seasons for wide receivers like Greg Jennings, Dwayne Bowe and Sidney Rice. In discussing last seasons training regimen – Shorts expressed, “I went into this camp [with Fitzgerald] last year and saw a guy who’s already a Hall of Famer, he’s already signed to a big contract and he’s out here outworking everybody. He has a crazy work ethic and seeing him work out this hard showed me what it takes to be at the top. Fitzgerald is the ideal pro. He’s an extremely hard worker, extremely humble. He’s the professional of all professionals. He gets it. You can see why he’s one of the best, and I want to get there.” Last season Shorts trained with Fitzgerald and broke out for 55 catches with 979 yards and 7 TD’s.
Shorts also noted that he has added 7lbs. of muscle to his physique this offseason, giving him the explosion and strength necessary to break-away from DBs at the line of scrimmage. Jacksonville Coach, Gus Bradley was quoted saying that Shorts has been “standout” during OTAs. “I like Cecil Shorts. Put it down … I’m a good evaluator.” The third-year wideout is locked up in Jacksonville until 2014, making him a free agent in 2015. Expect a break-out season from Shorts both on a football and fantasy football perspective. The dedication and ambition that Shorts shows on and off the field is evident; and to steal a line from Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko, “He’s the toughest guy who ever wore shoes.”
Alongside Shorts at the Interview was Rookie WR Jasper Collins. Collins will make the trek from Miami to Minnesota this coming week to train with elite level talent. “I feel very fortunate being able to attend Fitzgerald’s camp with some of the Top Wide Receivers in the NFL, including Cecil, and especially being a rookie.” Collins an undrafted Rookie Wide Receiver out of Mount Union was the only Division III Player invited to the East-West Shrine Bowl last season. Collins came out of the Shrine Bowl regarded as one of the best route runners and polished wide receivers there. “I’m out here everyday working as hard as I can to show teams why I should have been drafted, but most importantly, to show Miami why they signed me.” Collins finished the 2012 season at Mt. Union with 92 catches for 1,694 yards with 22 touchdowns. In the playoffs, he had 43 catches for 795 yards with 11 touchdowns, which were all NCAA Division III records for the tournament. Collins will join a receiving corps of Mike Wallace, Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson.
In asking about the transition from a Division III school to the NFL, Collins said, “Cecil has definitely helped prepare me for the NFL, just like he helped me at Mount [Union]. He really helped polish my route running skills and training workouts – he’s helped me to become a way better player.” Shorts noted that, “At Mount, you’re going up against someone you’re stronger, faster, and in most cases bigger than. But in the NFL, you’re going up against someone who understands the game 100%, a veteran. They understand everything about it.” Shorts continued to include that mental toughness is probably the biggest challenge he’s had to face in the NFL. “The way you prepare for games, prepare for your opponents is more complex. All in all, the physical nature of players in the NFL is unreal compared to college players. The strength, the speed, the mental toughness – it’s on a whole other level.”
Shorts said his main goal for this season was to “win, win, win! At Mount [Union] I only lost 3 games in my entire career. I don’t like to lose, so that’s definitely my main goal this season. I want to emerge as a leader of my team, help others get better, and just win!” After having to reiterate the question and asking Shorts about his personal goal for the season he included that his personal goals weren’t on his mind, but if he’d have to set a number he’d like to have 1200 yards and 10 TD’s. “I’m setting high goals, but I want to be a Top Wide Receiver in the NFL.”