“I don’t care that you caught the ball, finish!” That was just one of the many incredible JaMarcus Shephard quotes from Friday’s practice. The biggest story of the day was the energy and intensity that surrounded Shephard’s work with his wide receivers. After putting up abysmal numbers during the 2021 season under John Donovan’s offense, it’s not hard to see that the entire offense is primed to take a big step forward in 2022, and part of that is going to be thanks to Shephard’s intensity and emphasis on finishing every play.

“I guess you don’t like scoring touchdowns!” he said to Rome Odunze when he pulled up a little short of the end zone after a rep. Odunze laughed it off, gave Shephard a high five, and ran back in line, and it was clear to me that this coaching staff as a whole has what it takes to get the most out of each and every player on the roster.

After practice, Shephard spoke very highly of the sophomore from Las Vegas, “I said that to him because he has an NFL level work ethic with everything he does, and I want to make sure that everything he does, from the way he brushes his teeth, to the way he scores touchdowns, he does at an NFL level. He’s going to be a huge deep threat for us this season, a real get behind the defense kind of guy. He has a great knowledge of the playbook, and I’m really excited for what he brings to the table for us.”

Junior Giles Jackson also had very high praise for Shephard following Friday’s practice. “He makes me want to come to practice every day,” the “taker” said.

Shephard said he doesn’t like calling his players receivers, “because everyone is a receiver,” he said. “Your momma is a receiver of Amazon packages, and your teacher is a receiver of kids in their class. I want my guys to go out there and be takers every single day.”

It was night and day compared to watching practices in 2021, where the coaches were involved, but not even close to the point that coaches like Shephard and Julius Brown were on Friday. Every coach, assistant, and staff member on the field was involved in every single rep, and a lot of that energy and passion starts with Shephard.

Before every drill, instead of just telling players what was going on, Shephard was showing them exactly what he wanted. “I don’t want my players out there thinking that I’m just telling them things,” he said. “While I can’t run like I used to… I never want my players to feel that there’s anything that I’m asking them to do that I can’t do myself.”

The atmosphere of practice was electric enough, but one thing to note is that at the end of practice, there was a real sense of togetherness. “From the first day of winter workouts, you would’ve never known that this team went 4-8 last year,” quarterback Michael Penix Jr. said.

Not only does that energy radiate to the players, but it seemed to radiate with multiple recruits who were in attendance on unofficial visits. At the end of practice, they were introduced to the team by one of the position coaches, who were VERY fired up to have them there. The coach would shout some sort of introduction for the player, one even brought his little brother up with him, before getting a huge cheer from the team. If today’s energy is any indicator of what’s on the horizon, this is going to be a big year for Husky football.