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Shephard's Reputation Continues to Grow as Husky Receivers Coach

The newcomer finds his name near the top of a national list of his peers.
Dan Raley|
Shephard's Reputation Continues to Grow as Husky Receivers Coach
Shephard's Reputation Continues to Grow as Husky Receivers Coach

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Washington Huskies

Junior Adams clearly was a popular University of Washington receivers coach.

Oregon felt the need to hire him away from a Husky football program in the midst of its transition to Kalen DeBoer.

Top recruit Germie Bernard gave back his UW scholarship and headed to Michigan State once Adams gave up his job in Montlake.

Oh, would the Huskies ever recover from this moment of despair? The fan-base angst was impalpable. The world was coming to an end, wasn't it?

Enter JaMarcus Shephard, Adams' UW replacement.

Junior who?

If UW player reaction to this hard-working Shephard with his outlandish personality isn't proof enough that Husky football can move on without missing a beat, the opinions of others assuredly can smooth things out, as well.

On Tuesday, list-maker Big Game Boomer released its latest college football ranking and determined what this outfit thinks are the nation's top 50 wide-receiver coaches. 

Shephard came in No. 6.

Adams is found at 43rd.

This coaching list places Shephard behind only, in this order, Ohio State's Brian Hartline, Oklahoma State's Casey Dunn, Texas' Brennan Marion, Alabama's Holmon Wiggins and Nebraska's Mickey Joseph.

Regardless of who created this ranking, that's a high compliment, indeed.

Just six months on the job, Shephard is considered by this particular source as the Pac-12's best at what he does. He's joined by Adams and USC's Dennis Simmons (No. 20) as the only conference receivers coaches receiving these accolades.

Shephard, a two-time, small-college All-American for DePauw University, has a receiving track record let alone a coaching background in this area. 

He runs routes alongside UW players, encouraging them and goading them to be better. All in good fun, he boasts to them about his ability to still bench press more than 300 pounds. They enjoy his expertise and antics. 

Shephard came to the Huskies from Purdue and the Big Ten, giving him ample credentials to replace Adams. Overall, he ran a most interesting route to Seattle, spending the 2016 season coaching at of all places ... Washington State.

What a prankster he is. 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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