A scary moment came in the final minutes of Florida’s Gasparilla Bowl loss to the UCF Knights on Thursday night as starting receiver Justin Shorter took a hit to the head and stayed on the ground while not appearing to be moving. It was an emotional scene as UF’s players huddled around him, and he was carted off the field and taken to a local hospital.
Fortunately, we got some good news on Friday morning as Shorter’s family announced that he had been cleared to leave the hospital in a statement posted by the Gators football Twitter account.
“We are happy to share that Justin is doing well, is cleared to head home today and is on his way to a full recovery,” the statement said. “We would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of prayers, love and endless support — he is going to be fine.”
That is certainly encouraging, as head/neck injuries are never anything to play around with. It sounds like Shorter will be alright in the long term, though.
The redshirt junior receiver is a former five-star recruit who transferred to Florida last year from Penn State. In two seasons with the Gators, he has 66 catches for 818 yards and six touchdowns.
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