Following his first career touchdown against Missouri, UF wide receiver Justin Shorter already had his sights set on more.
He waited until his third collegiate year to find the end zone and wanted to score again the following game.
“Hopefully next week versus Georgia,” Shorter said after Mizzou, “I can go out and try to get me at least one more.”
Shorter spoke his second career TD into existence before — and during — the Florida-Georgia game. With the Gators facing a two-touchdown deficit in the first quarter, he told quarterback Kyle Trask they needed to get on the board after a three-and-out on their opening possession.
On third-and-4 of the next series, Shorter reeled in a 14-yard touchdown reception to make it a one-score game.
“We were down 14-0,” Shorter said. “During that drive, I looked at Kyle and I was like, ‘Hey, we need to score here. We have to get this back going.’
“We ended up scoring and thank God it ended up being me. It felt great, but it was a great team win for all of us.”
The Penn State transfer was one of 10 receivers who caught passes from Trask, which was one of the things that sold him on Florida. He saw how Dan Mullen’s offense spreads the ball to different players and doesn’t just focus on a select few, which is something he experienced with the Nittany Lions.
With 10 catches for 80 yards this year, he already has two-thirds of his reception total (15) and half of his receiving yards (157) in two seasons at PSU.
“I play wideout, so whenever I can get those catches or those touches, it just looks like gold to me,” said Shorter, who finished with three catches for 32 yards against UGA.
While he cherishes every opportunity to get his hands on the ball, he understands the impact of spreading it around and what that kind of system can do for the offense as a whole.
“With our tight ends, wideouts, running backs, we have a lot of weapons,” he said. “As you’ve seen, the running backs went crazy on those wheel routes. Everyone really is a huge weapon for us.
“It’s just good to see the ball getting spread around and everyone getting the chance to show what they can do on national TV.”
Shorter saw fair share of big games at Penn State, but said being able to make an impact and score in the Florida-Georgia rivalry means so much more.
“It just feels good,” he said. “I’m just proud of my team, thankful for all of my teammates being able to help me out to get that touchdown. Hopefully we celebrate, then come back and just worry about next weekend.”
