Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In the spring of 2015, Adam Shuler won the Class 4A state championship in the discus and followed that performance with a victory in the Golden South Classic, a notable meet held each May in Orlando.

By the time Shuler was named The Orlando Sentinel's Boys Track Athlete of the Year, he had already made one of the toughest decisions of his life earlier that spring when he signed a football scholarship with West Virginia. A defensive lineman out of Lyman High School in Seminole County, Shuler was grateful for the opportunity to play college football, but the Mountaineers do not have a men's track team, thus ending his blossoming potential in the discus.

"I do love to throw,'' Shuler said this week following football practice. "I was dedicated to being good."

Shuler's discus throw of 192 feet, 9 inches on his final attempt at the state meet his senior year broke a Central Florida record in the event that had stood for 39 years. Shuler also finished third in the shot put.

Shuler did not learn to throw the discus until he arrived at Cypress Creek High in the Orlando area as a freshman. He began to toss around the discus and shot put for fun, and the next thing Shuler knew he was watching YouTube videos on how to improve his technique and become an elite thrower.

During the summer between his sophomore and junior years of high school, Shuler transferred to Lyman, where head coach Fred Finke connected him with throws specialist Andy Vince at the National Training Center in Clermont.

Positive results followed as Shuler built toward the memorable finish to his prep career.

"He loved track with all of his heart and probably as much as football,'' his father, Adam Shuler Sr., told the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail in 2016. "He did want to be able to do both."

As Shuler produced results on the football field for the Mountaineers – he had 70 tackles and four sacks over the 2016 and '17 seasons – he never forgot about the discus. He kept one in the trunk of his car and whenever he could find time, Shuler often went to a nearby track or empty field and practiced.

"I never dropped it down completely,'' Shuler said. "I would just train on my own."

Following his redshirt sophomore season at West Virginia, Shuler sought to transfer to a school where he could play football and join the track team. He landed at Florida and made an immediate impact for the Gators, starting 10 games at defensive tackle and finishing with 39 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, five quarterback hurries and 1.5 sacks.
 
Shuler enters his final season projected to start on the interior line, ranking third in tackles among the team's defensive linemen last season behind Jachai Polite and Jabari Zuniga. He is now a dual-sport athlete.

Shuler recently joined the UF men's track team for the outdoor season, returning to competition last weekend at the FSU Relays in Tallahassee. Shuler finished second with a throw of 174-4 in his collegiate debut, four years since he last competed in a meet.

Steve Lemke, Florida's associate head coach and throws specialist, was impressed by Shuler's natural ability and enthusiasm. While Shuler remains active in spring camp with the UF football team, he is competing with the track team too, including at this weekend's Pepsi Florida Relays.

"He is a legitimately good discus thrower. Competition-wise, it didn't look like he missed a beat,'' Lemke said. "You could tell he handles competition and pressure well. He's played football. What pressure is there to throw at the FSU Relays? What is missing now is the reps."

Shuler said the transition from football back to throwing the discus has been a smooth one. Listed at 6-foot-4, 275 pounds, Shuler has added more than 30 pounds to his frame since he threw the discus in high school.

The extra muscle helps, but so do all those practice throws with no one watching the past few years, relying on the knowledge he gained from his prep coaches and those YouTube videos.

"The distance, they say, is 30 percent strength and 70 percent technique,'' Shuler said. "It helped me improve on my technique."

How serious is Shuler about returning to form?

"My goal is to break the school record,'' he said.

Currently, that record belongs to Wes Stockbarger, who has owned the mark since 2007 when he made a throw of 201-5 at the NCAA East Regional. That's less than 10 feet beyond what Shuler accomplished in high school, so it's a reasonable thought.

Real reasonable.

"He will throw farther than that,'' Lemke said. "I think he'll throw over 190 feet this year and that would score at the conference meet, so he'll help us. He's built for the discus. He's long and lanky and he's quick."

And motivated.

Lemke discovered how much over spring break when Shuler was under the weather. On a Sunday afternoon, Lemke got a phone call out of the blue from Shuler wondering if it would be OK if he stopped by the track to throw.

If Lemke had any questions about Shuler's commitment, they were erased that day.

"Once spring ball is done and he can get more and more reps, he is going to help us this year,'' Lemke said. "He loves to throw. You don't have to drag him out here, that's for sure. He wants to be out here. These first two meets are just a matter of getting him into uniform and seeing how he does."