Florida Gators WR Justin Shorter Granted Immediate Eligibility

About two weeks until the team will travel to Oxford, Mississippi for week one, the Florida Gators were granted some great news as wide receiver Justin Shorter, a former five star recruit and Penn State transfer, has been granted eligibility by the NCAA to compete in 2020. Shorter announced the decision early Friday morning on his Instagram. 

Shorter, among many others such as Syracuse and former Florida offensive lineman Chris Bleich and Tennessee, former Georgia offensive lineman Cade Mays, have been waiting to hear back from the NCAA for months to no avail. This was an issue as players like Georgia quarterbacks J.T. Daniels and Jamie Newman were being cleared quickly, in way less time despite putting in a waiver request after the others. 

Despite the long wait behind the process, Shorter received good news and will most definitely crack the Gators’ rotation at wide receiver this season.

Shorter, standing at 6-4, 226 pounds, has all the intangibles to become yet another NFL bound wide receiver to come through Florida after some further development that he didn’t appear to receive at Penn State. Many of the traits Shorter expresses on the field will only be highlighted in head coach Dan Mullen's matchup-happy system, as he will set Shorter up to win one on one matchups. 

In two seasons with the Nittany Lions, Shorter caught 15 passes for 157 yards.

Joining Shorter as an X, boundary wide receiver in the new-look WR room will be Trevon Grimes, Ja'Markis Weston and freshman Xzavier Henderson. With the news of Shorter's waiver clearing, Henderson's reps may be cut down as he has seemingly climbed up the depth chart through fall camp with strong performances according to the coaching staff.

To learn more about Shorter's game, you can check out our film review of Shorter here.