Spring review series ($): Quarterbacks | Wide receivers | Running backs | O-line | Tight ends | Linebackers | Defensive line | Cornerbacks | Safeties | Special teams

Complete spring coverage: Primer

JaMarcus Shephard did not relent.

The yapping started usually about 2:15 p.m. on weekdays over the six weeks of spring ball, coinciding with meetings, and it wouldn’t stop until early evening, once he was finally settled into his office post-practice.

No one was safe from Shephard’s barbs.

As soon as he stepped into Mollenkopf for practice on Day 12, he looked and saw several defensive backs off to the side, apparently not ready to practice.

“What’s with these (guys)?” he said to no one in particular. “You have 70 of them. They’re all hurt? Buttercups.”

He kept repeating the “buttercups” part, getting louder, as he walked past cornerbacks coach Derrick Jackson and secondary coach Anthony Poindexter who were starting to pull their guys together for pre-practice walkthrough work.

They heard him.