Shephard Make Husky Football Fun for Everyone Running His Routes
When introduced as the new University of Washington football coach, Kalen DeBoer seemed personable enough, but the first impression he gave off was his program might be overly serious in approach.
Maybe too dour for the Huskies. Old-school Big Ten rigid. After all, he was Midwest principled and he spoke plainly.
Oh, was that a big mistake.
Not only was there plenty of hidden personality to DeBoer to go with all that football discipline he radiates, the newly installed UW coach proceeded to surround himself with a cast of fun-loving but demanding characters maybe not seen before in Montlake in such a large gathering. These guys keep the machine running and everyone loose and motivated.
DeBoer hired Courtney Morgan, a mountain of a man with a booming approach, as his director of player personnel.
He offered a job to Ron McKeeferey, a stubby little guy with a crewcut and an infectious way of looking at things, as his strength and conditioning coach.
Oh, and there was one more hard-to-miss addition to this band of Husky football court jesters — DeBoer reached out and plucked receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard off the Purdue staff and brought him West.
Shephard is the boisterous, animated guy at practice who you hear above everyone else, encouraging and goading his players to do more.
He's the person in lockstep with the receivers, running routes alongside them or turning instant defender and trying to swat the ball away when it arrives.
Shephard is all energy and volume. He has something to say on every play. Something encouraging to offer to every player.
He's continuously flying around, chest-bumping everyone, making it fun.
"I'm pretty much out there doing it with them," he said. "I'm going to tell them to do something, I'm going to demonstrate, show them and do it myself so then also they feel they have to do it better than I do."
Shephard is believable in what he says. He has past playing credentials as a two-time All-American receiver and kick returner at FCS DePauw University in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It took him awhile to become a college coach, but he's all about perseverance.
He believes there's nothing he and his guys can't do, and Shephard serves that up as a constant reminder.
"When I was a player at least, and I'm sure all of you guys can relate to this, sometimes you have a coach who would be yelling at you about something, to run down the field or finish or whatever it might be, and there was this little, this little thing in the back of your head, that said, 'Hey, you can't do it,' " he said. "My players, hopefully, will never feel that way."
Shephard has been places, ironic places. He first coached four seasons at Western Kentucky, leaving a school that a short time later employed Junior Adams, the receivers coach he would replace at the UW.
He spent the 2016 season at Washington State on Mike Leach's staff, coaching against the Huskies, before returning to his home state to work for Purdue for the past five years.
Shephard and DeBoer met a decade ago. DeBoer was the Eastern Michigan offensive coordinator when Shephard interviewed for the receivers job, which he didn't get, but the two stayed in contact.
After watching DeBoer guide Fresno State to a thrilling, nationally televised 40-37 upset of UCLA last September in the Rose Bowl, Shephard felt compelled to make an impulsive call to his coaching acquaintance.
Is there any other way with this guy? The answer is a fairly obvious no. Shephard felt like he had beaten the Bruins, too.
"They won the game against UCLA this past year and I called him to like get fired up," Shephard said. "Didn't even expect him to answer the call. He answered it right away, two rings. [It was] 'Shephard, what's going on?!' He tries to be all calm, but he gets pretty excited, too. I was getting excited with him."
He's still excited. Every day. Every practice.
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