“Have a dream, sacrifice for it, and never ever rest in the middle,” 5-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant says in his book “The Mamba Mentally: How I Play” which sits on Washington receivers coach, JaMarcus Shephard’s desk.   Released in 2018 the the legend’s book is a deep dive into the psyche of Kobe, one of the greatest basketball players ever.

The book looks at his mental acumen and how he used mental focus to go from a virtually unknown high school basketball player to a 5-time NBA champion.

For JaMarcus Shephard, Bryant’s book is something of a reference guide to transforming the mindset of his receivers.  When he arrived in Seattle he inherited a vastly underperforming, yet heralded fleet of receivers that included Jalen McMillan, Rome Odunze, Ja’Lynn Polk, Giles Jackson, and others.

One of the first things that he sought to do was change their mindset from being “receivers” to make them “takers.”  He wanted his players to not just catch the ball but go out and get it and adopt a new mentality to the position.

There are dozens of inspirational quotes attributed to Bryant whic became known as the “Mamba Mentally”.  One of Bryant’s most famous quotes is:

“I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.”  And that’s the mentality that Shephard is instilling in his players.

In Washington’s 52-42 victory over USC,  one of Shephard’s receivers Germie Bernard was doing “whatever it takes,” when performing the not-so-glorious tasks of being a blocker—at least three times putting defenders on their backsides.  The true sophomore also played decoy throughout the game, catching one pass for 14 yards and having one carry for 15 yards.

“Kobe Bryant, man God rest his soul. One of the elite competitors of our generation,” Shephard said Tuesday after practice. “I hope that, in those moments, our players know, ‘Man: yes I’m taking this jump shot’.”

And three of his receivers did take jump shots Saturday night in Los Angeles, in a salute to the “Mamba Mentality.”

In the third quarter, with the game knotted at 35, the Huskies had driven the ball 74 yards to the USC 1-yard line.  Lined up wide left was Denzel Boston with Giles Jackson inside to his right and Germie Bernard lined up wide right.  When Washington quarterback Michael Penix plunged into the endzone, the trio of wideouts performed the signature step-back jumper made famous by Bryant.

Shephard said that the jump shots weren’t specifically a salute to Kobe Bryant but were “just an ode to being a competitor.”

There was no disrespect intended to the opponent or the game.

“Kobe Bryant, in big moments, went out and took over the game. He didn’t just receive the game as it came to him, he went out there and took it over,” Shephard said.

Coach Shep, as he’s known to his players, thanked RealDawg reporter Nick Soumbeniotis for helping to hone his message to his players.

“You know what? Going forward, that will definitely be something that I appreciate you for giving me that nugget,” Shephard said.  “I’ll be using that one on my players going forward, you know, talking about that being part of ‘the takers mentality-the Mamba mentality’.”