Shephard Preaches Yards After Catch to Huskies In Unique Way

In his short time with Washington football, receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard has made an impact with his infectious personality and memorable comments.

During his media session on Wednesday, Shephard added yet another quote to his repertoire of unforgettable observations.

"I don't know if I'm supposed to say this on camera but going out of bounds is going to hell," the coach said. "That's how we explain it — we do not go out of bounds."

Shephard has long been a purveyor of his receivers adding as many yards after the catch as possible and he reminded the media about his unorthodox way of tallying that.

"If anyone was keeping track, the receivers actually only ended up with 111 yards in the game," Shephard said. "I had 264 yards, those were my yards. ... I should have been the Biletnikoff player of the week."

Since his arrival at Washington, Shephard has informed his receivers that any yards coming directly from the routes they run belong to him while whatever comes after the catch is theirs.

He gave a lot of credit to sophomore Germie Bernard, who added 27 yards after the catch against Boise State.

Rome is so talented, I love watching the strides he’s made under @CoachShephard. Was so strong at the catch point on Saturday and is so tough to tackle in the open field https://t.co/6QbgbFuAxC
— Roman Tomashoff (@rtomashoff34) September 5, 2023

Over Shephard's year and a half in the program, Rome Odunze has made more strides in adding yards after the catch than anyone else. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior has become one of the best receivers in the county under his tutelage, with physicality at the forefront of a lot of conversations between them.

"He's a 217-pound receiver and I told him he better play like he's a 217-pound receiver," Shephard said in the spring.

Odunze clearly took that advice to heart, earning 40 yards after the catch against Boise State, finishing with the second-most behind Jalen McMillan, who ended his day with 46.

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