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The sky was overcast and the air was hot and humid.
The surface at Blue Springs High School’s Peve Stadium was more like a sauna than a football field, and players grimaced with pain as they ran through a tough morning practice session that really did separate the men from the boys.
But the heat and the humidity didn’t seem to bother the biggest man on the field.
He was laughing and smiling and showing the Blue Springs football players why he was arguably one of the greatest offensive linemen of his generation.
Former Kansas City Chiefs right guard Will Shields, a 12-time Pro Bowl performer who never missed a game in his brilliant NFL career, was conducting a clinic for the team’s offensive linemen, while members of his staff at 68 Inside Sports ran the other Wildcats through a series of demanding drills.
“I just hope these guys know who they’re learning from today,” longtime Wildcats defensive line coach Dave Podjenski said as he watched Shields spend some one-on-one time with each member of the line.
“He’s top-notch – and so are the trainers he brought with him. He breaks down everything and relates to the guys in a way they understand. They have learned so much today – I’ve learned so much today – it’s pretty special.”
The Wildcat coaching staff recently won an appearance from Shields, who is making stops at many high schools on both sides of the state line.
“He came out and worked with the linemen and then he asked me if he could come back and conduct this session for all our guys,” Wildcats head coach Kelly Donohoe said with a touch of admiration in his voice. “You have the best lineman of his time in the NFL coming out and really working the guys. This has been the best single-day of work I’ve been a part of since I came to Blue Springs High School.
“The boys are all dog tired and want to get home and get in some air conditioning, but what a great day. We can’t thank him enough.”
The impact Shields left on the Wildcats was immediate and positive.
“I learned things I never knew about today,” said starting center Austin Reyes, who spent much of the camp mixing it up with Shields and teammate John Keltner, a starting guard and the lone returning starter from last year’s offensive line. “This was just a great experience for all of us. I’ll never forger it.”
The sky was overcast and the air was hot and humid.
The surface at Blue Springs High School’s Peve Stadium was more like a sauna than a football field, and players grimaced with pain as they ran through a tough morning practice session that really did separate the men from the boys.
But the heat and the humidity didn’t seem to bother the biggest man on the field.
He was laughing and smiling and showing the Blue Springs football players why he was arguably one of the greatest offensive linemen of his generation.
Former Kansas City Chiefs right guard Will Shields, a 12-time Pro Bowl performer who never missed a game in his brilliant NFL career, was conducting a clinic for the team’s offensive linemen, while members of his staff at 68 Inside Sports ran the other Wildcats through a series of demanding drills.
“I just hope these guys know who they’re learning from today,” longtime Wildcats defensive line coach Dave Podjenski said as he watched Shields spend some one-on-one time with each member of the line.
“He’s top-notch – and so are the trainers he brought with him. He breaks down everything and relates to the guys in a way they understand. They have learned so much today – I’ve learned so much today – it’s pretty special.”
The Wildcat coaching staff recently won an appearance from Shields, who is making stops at many high schools on both sides of the state line.
“He came out and worked with the linemen and then he asked me if he could come back and conduct this session for all our guys,” Wildcats head coach Kelly Donohoe said with a touch of admiration in his voice. “You have the best lineman of his time in the NFL coming out and really working the guys. This has been the best single-day of work I’ve been a part of since I came to Blue Springs High School.
“The boys are all dog tired and want to get home and get in some air conditioning, but what a great day. We can’t thank him enough.”
The impact Shields left on the Wildcats was immediate and positive.
“I learned things I never knew about today,” said starting center Austin Reyes, who spent much of the camp mixing it up with Shields and teammate John Keltner, a starting guard and the lone returning starter from last year’s offensive line. “This was just a great experience for all of us. I’ll never forger it.”
Neither will Keltner.
“He taught us things that we can use and incorporate with what we’ve learned from our coaches,” Keltner said. “I think we’re so far ahead of where we were at this point last year because of all the things we learned today.”
David Johnson is a member of the Wildcats defensive line, but he came away with a new respect for one of his favorite Chiefs players.
“I grew up in this area and watched Will Shields play when I was little kid, so this is really special,” said Johnson, who asked Shields to sign a football for his father.
“His passion is amazing. He was working as hard as we were, and he was really enjoying himself. You could tell he was having a good time. And to learn from the best isn’t something that happens every day to high school kids.”
Shields was a third-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1993 NFL Draft. The former University of Nebraska College Football Hall of Famer never missed a game in his career, starting 231 consecutive games for the Chiefs.
He was a star on the field and a role model away from the game. Shields was the recipient of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2003 for his work with the Will to Succeed Foundation, the charitable organization he started in 1993.
Shields announced his retirment in 2007.
“I really enjoy coming out and working with the high school kids,” Shields said. “I told them that I was going to come back and watch them play, and I am.
“There’s no better feeling for me than trying to explain something, then seeing that they get it.
“It’s like their guard and center (Keltner and Reyes). They were working on a new technique, and you could tell they got it. They didn’t need to think about anything, they just did it – and that’s the greatest feeling in the world for someone like me.”
