Justin Shaffer close to realizing NFL goal just after championship dream comes true with Bulldogs

MOBILE, Ala. - The last month or so has been pretty crazy for the many Georgia Bulldogs who won a national championship in January, then started immediately preparing for the NFL Draft. 

For Cedar Grove product Justin Shaffer, his family has been happy to be on this ride with him.

"It was exciting to see my son was happy and he got what he wanted. He came back for that championship. That’s what he came back for," his mom, Connie Jackson, told FOX 5 Sports. "You can’t describe it. I’m excited for Justin because I know what Justin wanted, what Justin talks about."

The 6-foot-4, 330-pounder took advantage of a fifth season with the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA after the pandemic-affected 2020 season, and went on to be named second-team All-SEC and a national championship, raising his draft stock in the process.

"It’s something you never thought you’d be in the midst of, and it happened," his dad, Edward Shaffer, said. "It’s just something you can’t describe. It’s a dream come true, too, but you asked me about the journey, and I can’t describe it."

Even after just achieving that national championship dream, Justin Shaffer and his parents can’t believe he’s on the doorstep of the NFL.

ATHENS, GA - SEPTEMBER 21: Justin Shaffer #54 of the Georgia Bulldogs celebrates after a touchdown during a game between Notre Dame Fighting Irish and University of Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo

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And at last week’s Senior Bowl, Shaffer had a huge opportunity to show more of his personality and on-field ability to NFL teams.

"To me, it’s just going out and making a name for myself and proving my stock," Shaffer told FOX 5 Sports. "Like just when they ask me what kind of player I am, I tell them I’m a mauler, a blue-collar, a lead-by-example and just always want to do the right things off the field."

And Shaffer’s self-starter drive was noticeable at a young age.

When he was in middle school, he would catch the after-school bus to Cedar Grove High School to just watch their football practices.

"(He would) watch them practice to see what they was doing over there because he was going to go to the high school the next year, so he was really getting himself prepared to go to the high school," Jackson said. "It was all his idea."

"Just hanging out with the older guys, just the vibes rubbed off on me, and just taking the knowledge from them and knowing I could be just as good as they was," Shaffer recalled.

"And that he still has the same drive today," Edward Shaffer said. "He gets up every morning and wants to go work out. If he goes out and sits and eats dinner with the family, he wants to work that out of his body because he’s dedicated to try to reach his dream."

Jackson said her dream would be to keep her son nearby and see him in red and black next season — and the Falcons should be looking to add offensive guards in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Shaffer is graded around a fourth-round draft selection and could rise even higher during the NFL Combine process in March.

The moment his father knew his son could be a special athlete was when he was a young boy, learning how to train for the first time.

"We was running the hill, and he was crying. And he knows I tell this story today," Edward Shaffer recalled. "I was like, 'You’ve got to make it up that hill because once you make it up the hill the first time, the next time will be easy. If you want to play football, these are some of the kinds of things you have to do.' And he was crying, still going, and he’s boohooing, boohooing. He got to the top of the hill, and as he came back down and he went back up, that’s when I knew he had some good determination. That hill, sometimes I go and walk by it and say, hey, that was a determining factor."

That determination has continued to pay off. Jackson said Shaffer won championships at every level of football: with the Ellenwood Raiders, with Cedar Grove, and now with the Bulldogs.

"Yeah I think about that sometimes," Shaffer told FOX 5 Sports at the Senior Bowl. "The crazy thing about it is it’ll always be like my last year. Like, when I was at Cedar Grove, my senior year. I was at Georgia, my senior year. Park ball, it was my last year before I went to play middle school ball."

And Shaffer said he's ready to see if that championship trend continues at the NFL level, the next step for him and his family as he realizes yet another dream.