Chiefs Draft Prospects: Cecil Shorts III
We’ve spent a lot of time looking at some of the bigger name WR prospects for the Kansas City Chiefs but I wanted to take a moment to look at a lesser known guy that just might capture Scott Pioli’s interest.
His name is Cecil Shorts III and he is a WR out of D-III Mount Union College in Ohio.
Aside from having a totally awesome name (just think, there were TWO other Cecil Shorts’ before him) Shorts might be one of the most intriguing players in the entire draft.
Shorts started his college career as a QB. As a redshirt freshman he went 16-24 for 206 yards throwing the ball. He added 12 carries for 209 yards and two touchdowns running the ball from the QB position and also caught 12 passes for 289 yards and three touchdowns.
Talk about versatile.
As a sophomore, Shorts made the official move to receiver and caught 77 passes for 1,484 yards and 23 touchdowns. How did he follow that up in his junior year? Oh just 100 catches for 1,736 yards and 19 touchdowns in 15 games. He also did some work at Wildcat QB and rushed 34 times for 206 yards and eight touchdowns.
Still not impressed?
In the D-III semi-final game, Mount Union’s QB got knocked out of the game so Shorts stepped in at QB and carried the ball 10 times for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
His senior season he caught 70 more balls for 1,196 yards and 18 touchdowns. He threw in another 133 yards and a touchdown as a rusher, 56 yards as a passer and just for fun, he started returning kicks and punts for the first time to the tune of 680 return yards and 3 touchdowns. I read he fought through injuries his senior season which may account for his receiving numbers coming down a bit.
Now obviously we have to come back down to earth here and realize we are talking about a very big fish in a very small, D-III pond. Still, there is no denying this kid is a talented athlete. He has All-American track speed and was clocked at 4.5 in the 40 yard dash.
While the kid was obviously going up against inferior athletes, the guy still put up 259 receptions for 4,705 yards and 63 touchdowns in his career. That is some serious production. Oh yeah, don’t forget the 492 yards rushing, including 12 touchdowns. All told he produced 5,989 all purpose yards in college. That would be pretty good if he was playing against peewee football players.
He has no character issues as far as I can see. He was an All-American sprinter on the Mount Union track team and he is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Most of the concerns about Shorts seem to be whether or not he’ll be strong enough to go up against pro level athletes. He can be a little bit lazy in his routes and double catches some of his balls though he demonstrates pretty good hands.
Shorts is 6 feet tall and weighed in at the combine at 205 pounds. He ran the 40 in 4.5 seconds and is currently projected as a 5th round prospect by NFL Draft Scout.
Cecil had his Pro Day at Mount Union on the 16th. It was windy with a slight drizzle and the temperature was about 40 degrees and Shorts ran a 4.35 and 4.45 in his two 40 yard dashes. Dang.
I did some research but I couldn’t find evidence that the Chiefs attended the Mount Union Pro Day. I do know there was a scout there from the Browns and various articles about the Pro Day said that Shorts is currently lining up visits with multiple teams. Hopefully one of those teams is the Chiefs.
Here is a video of Cecil’s 40 at his Pro Day.
Here is a quote from an interview Shorts did with the National Football Post:
NFP: Why should an NFL team draft you within the first three to four rounds?
Shorts: “No. 1, character. I won’t get in any trouble. I’m a team guy. I will be the first and last guy on and off the field. I will bust my butt. I didn’t have a scholarship. I earned everything I got. That will carry over to the NFL. I’ll be the first one in the NFL room. I plan to outwork everybody. I’ve got a chip on my shoulder. Nobody is going to outwork me. Once Pierre Garcon made it, that really motivated me.”
I don’t know about you guys but I like this guy a lot. He has good speed and hands and while he was picking on lesser competition, he certainly has NFL level talent and speed. Pierre Garcon likely has more NFL teams looking at Mount Union’s program, which has been very good for years. I believe they’ve played in 6-straight D-III championship games.
Cecil’s new 40 time could make teams give him another hard look and he could see his stock boosted. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got picked in the 4th or maybe even the late 3rd round.
What do you think Addicts? Should the Chiefs take a look at Cecil Shorts III?