The Cardinal Countdown: 95 Days Until Kickoff

#95 Kyle Shortridge

Class: RS Junior

Ht/Wt: 6-2/305

Position: Defensive Tackle

Hometown: Loxahatchee, FL

Twitter: @KyleShortridge

Thoughts: With the upperclassmen dominating the defensive line last season not too many folks paid much attention to the second team unit which filled in admirably at times, even in high profile situations. They were consistent enough, in fact, that fans rarely noticed when Pio, Brown, or Rankins stepped off the field to catch a breather or two. One of those “white squad” players is Shortridge, a very talented and very large lineman who played in all 13 games last year and more than held his own up front. I hit on it last year when talking about Kyle, but just to reiterate, in my opinion he is a player in the early Charlie Strong era who would have seen the field immediately. Now, as a RS Junior he is still battling for PT with a NFL caliber player in DeAngelo Brown. When that starts to happen at nearly every position, that’s the sign of a big time program. Cards aren’t there yet, but it’s getting better each year.

I already mentioned his size but Kyle also has the strength and speed (ran 4.88s 40, best of “Power” group) to continue to play a big part up front this season. During the Spring DeAngelo Brown singled out Kyle as one of the more improved players in the offseason who showed he was putting in the time both in the film room and the weight room to get better. This season I’d expect Shortridge to either play behind Brown at Nose Tackle (started there in Spring Game for White Team) or shift out to the edge if Hearns continues to play more outside linebacker. As we’ve talked about before, Grantham makes an effort to get the 11 best guys on the field at one time, so if that requires Kyle to shift on the line to see the field more often, he’ll do it. We saw Kyle in every single game last season, and unless an injury takes place I don’t anticipate that will change this year. I stressed the importance of the nose tackle to this defensive unit back on Day 97, and DeAngelo Brown isn’t losing his job anytime soon, BUT if something happens Kyle has to step in and not miss a beat for the defense to continue to excel. As much as I love me some DeAngelo, I think Shortridge will be ready if his number is called.

Sweet Tweet:

When you lose your wallet

— Bigmansavage95 (@KyleShortridge) February 21, 2016

I’ve never lost my wallet. Unless of course you count that time when I was like 8 and I sat it down somewhere at the Chuck-E-Cheese and left without it. While somewhat devastating at the time I’m pretty sure I quickly replaced that bright red velcro beauty along with the library card, honorary GI Joe Membership Card, and the $1.78 I had inside fairly quick. If I were to lose my wallet today though…I may shed a few tears. Nothing is irreplaceable, just the thought of having to call and cancel all my credit/debit cards, the thought of having to stand in line at the DMV to replace my license, and……the thought of having to tell my sweet and innocent daughter that Daddy lost the “free train ride” punch card and we have to start all over again.

You have no clue as to the emotional impact this would have.

Scars, I tell you. Scars.