It's Official: Purdue's JaMarcus Shephard Hired as Husky Receivers Coach
JaMarcus Shephard, identified as a receivers-coach replacement candidate for Junior Adams a week ago, finally made it official by joining Kalen DeBoer's University of Washington staff, the school announced. He also carries the duties of associate head coach and passing game coordinator.
Shephard, 38, comes to the UW after five seasons at Purdue and several other coaching stops, including spending the 2016 season at Washington State as part of Mike Leach's staff.
He takes over in Seattle for Adams, who was a DeBoer assistant coach for all of two weeks before he was hired away by Oregon to become co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach. Interestingly, both Shephard and Adams made coaching stops at Western Kentucky, though at different times, as they've moved through the college football ranks.
Shephard joins the Huskies after prematurely being announced as the Notre Dame receivers coach by a Fighting Irish-related website, which later published a retraction.
"I've followed his success over the years and always been impressed with how hard and well coached his players are," DeBoer said. "He's done a great job recruiting top talent and proven to have the ability to develop them while under his guidance. JaMarcus is a great fit with our staff."
The native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, leaves Purdue in good hands, with the Boilermakers finishing 9-4 and beating Tennessee 48-45 in the Music City Bowl in Nashville.
An animated coach, Shephard has built a solid coaching reputation, which includes ranking as the nation's third-best receivers coaches on a list compiled by some outfit called Big Game Boomer.
Shephard came to WSU for one season only and coached the receivers for Leach's pass-heavy Air Raid offense. Those Cougars finished 8-5, losing to the Minnesota Gophers 17-12 in the Holiday Bowl after falling to the CFP-bound Huskies 45-17 in the Apple Cup in Pullman.
He left the Palouse for Purdue and Jeff Brohm's new staff. In 2020, under Shephard tutelage, the Boilermakers' David Bell led the Big Ten in receiving with 53 catches.
Shephard will head up a UW receiving corps led by veterans Jalen McMillan, Ja'Lynn Polk, Rome Odunze, Taj Davis, Jabez Tinae and Giles Jackson, plus freshman signee Denzel Boston, with McMillan and Polk recently publicly declaring they'll be returning to the program.
He'll join a position room that has lost seven players in two seasons to transfers, most recently Terrell Bynum to USC and Sawyer Racanelli to Montana.
The Huskies couldn't prevent recruit Germie Bernard from asking and drawing his scholarship release, and heading to the Big Ten to join Michigan State, which will play the UW on Sept. 17 in Seattle.
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