Shields' badge of honor: Injury doesn’t keep Amboy junior from producing
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| C.J. Shields has played well at wide receiver and defensive back for the Amboy Clippers despite an injured right wrist. (Chris Padgett/cpadgett@svnmail.com) |
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The scary thing about C.J. Shields’ success this season is he hasn’t even been completely healthy.
The junior wide receiver leads Amboy in receptions, yards and touchdown catches, and he also leads the Clippers secondary with 41 tackles, a sack, two fumble recoveries and a blocked punt.
And he’s done it all with a hairline fracture in his right wrist.
“It feels a lot better when we win,” Shields said with a laugh.
Shields played most of the season with a brace on, wrapped in an inordinate amount of athletic tape that takes away the use of the fingers on his right hand.
But that hasn’t stopped him from catching 12 passes for 277 yards and three TDs – or sticking his hand into many a passing lane to break up a completion.
Still, he had a few anxious moments when he recently played his first game all season without the brace, wrapping the right wrist and hand only in tape to give it some more flexibility.
“I think my mom was worried about me getting hit hard and breaking it completely, but I was just getting sick of the cast getting in the way,” Shields said. “I asked the coaches what they thought about it, and they asked me a few questions about how it felt and did some little tests with it, and it felt OK.”
“I’ve been taping it up heavy, but it still feels easier to use than the cast.”
Shields has been one cog in a passing game that has proved hard to stop for Amboy’s opponents. With senior Westin Montavon at the other receiver spot and quarterback Steven Apple proving to be an accurate thrower, defenses have had to stop keying on running back Cody Richardson and respect the Clippers’ air attack.
Throw in an offensive line that has had its way with a lot of defenses and the Clippers are playing at the top of their game at the perfect time.
“I think it’s our attitude,” Shields said. “I’d rather know I’m doing whatever I can to help the play work better than worry about whether I’m going to make the big play. I think we all focus on what we have to do so the play we’re running is a success, and there’s never any pouting if the ball isn’t coming to us.”
Shields has helped solidify the secondary as well. Shields covers a lot of ground and has a nose for the football.
“He’s got good instincts and he always makes a play on the ball – on both sides of the ball,” Amboy coach Gary Jones said. “He runs good routes and can find those open spaces on offense, and on defense he breaks on the ball well and is usually in the right position.”
Shields’ defense has improved as the season has gone on. Instead of peeking into the offensive backfield on every play, he has learned to play the receiver before making a play on the ball.
“Early in the season, I’d look first at the offensive line and see if they were standing up to pass block, and the coaches would yell at me because while I was doing that, the receiver would get two steps ahead of me,” Shields said a bit sheepishly. “Now I just try to watch the receiver, play off what he does; when he looks back for the ball, I look back and try to read the quarterback.”
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: Amboy H.S.
Radio: WRCV-FM (101.7), WLLT-FM (107.7)
