Cecil Shorts III

Cecil Shorts III (born December 22, 1987) is an American football wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He attended Collinwood High School in Cleveland, Ohio, and later the University of Mount Union where he played for the Mount Union Purple Raiders football team.

Early years
Shorts attended Collinwood High School in Cleveland, Ohio, where he played quarterback on the football team that his father, Cecil Shorts, Jr., coached.

College career
During his freshman season, Shorts suffered an injury that kept him from playing the entire year. In 2007, he was the backup quarterback, along with Kurt Rocco, to Greg Micheli, but was 16 of 24 passing for 209 yards, made 12 receptions, three for a touchdown, for 289 and ran for 108 yards with two touchdowns in 14 games played. Shorts switched to wide receiver after Pierre Garçon graduated, and immediately became the top receiver. In 2008, Shorts caught 77 passes for 1,484 yards and 23 touchdowns, which set an Ohio Athletic Conference record.

In 2009, he was named the D3Football.com National Offensive Player of the Year after recording 100 receptions for 1,736 yards with 19 touchdowns. For his efforts, he earned Associated Press first-team Little All-America honors following the season. In the 2009 NCAA Division III National Football Championship on December 19, 2009 against the UW–Whitewater Warhawks, Shorts caught 10 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns. The Purple Raiders lost, however, 38–28.

In 2010, Shorts' play was hampered by an ankle injury that prevented him from playing in three games. He finished the season with 18 receiving touchdowns, three return touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. He earned Associated Press first-team Little All-America honors for the second consecutive year following the season. Shorts had 4,705 receiving yards for 63 touchdowns in his career. He was considered a top wide receiver prospect in the 2011 NFL Draft.

Jacksonville Jaguars
Shorts was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the 114th overall pick (4th round) in the 2011 NFL Draft. Shorts is the highest drafted player in Mount Union history and first player drafted by the Jaguars from a Division III school.

Shorts played sparingly in his rookie season, catching only two passes for 30 yards and a touchdown in 10 games.

In 2012, despite Jacksonville sharing an NFL-worst record of 2-14 with the Kansas City Chiefs, Shorts was a bright spot, leading the team in receiving yards (979), yards per reception (17.8) and touchdowns (7), with 5 touchdowns going for 40 yards or longer.

He was placed on season-ending injured reserve on December 24, 2012 due to a concussion.