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Receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard sets the tone for his players in energy and intensity, using Purdue's practices to chirp at them — and other coaches and players — from the moment he gets onto the field until the moment he heads up into the meeting room.
He's hoping some of it rubs off on players.
Shephard spoke with media after Monday's practice:
GoldandBlack.com: How would you evaluate your group over the first two-plus weeks?
Shephard: “Coming here and understanding what is required of our receiving corps and what is going to be the requirement here at Purdue University, I would say we are definitely working to get better in a lot of different areas. There are things they are learning right now, not just about route running, technique and so on, but even about mentality, that we’re sort of pushing at this point. They’re learning little bits and pieces, but we have a pretty vast playbook, so it puts a lot of pressure on most guys to perform in a lot of different ways. As of right now, it’s definitely a work in progress.”
GoldandBlack.com: The mentality you want, you’re trying to get them tough? Get them to scream like you? What?
Shephard: “A wise coach once told me, ‘Get your guys to play the way that you played.’ If you ever see me at practice, you see the kind of mentality I have at practice, so that’s the kind of mentality I want them to have all the time. Exactly. I want them to be tough, hard-nosed, but mentally sound individuals. You can go out there and be very tough, fast and execute and do all those things the right way as well. That’s what it requires to be really good at this position. This is an art. This isn’t something you can just come out there and be brute force about it. There’s an art to it. You’ve got to really hone in on your craft and be good at your craft.”
Q: You have a relatively inexperienced group. Can that be a good thing where you’re not trying to change a lot of old habits or is it not a good thing?
Shephard: “I think one of the main things is about competition. I’m a big believer in competition, creates pressure, pressure makes diamonds. Not having been in that competitive environment can make it feel as if you are a little bit behind, in a way. These guys are quickly learning that excuses are not something that will be tolerated. It’s something we’re going to have an expectation of what you’re going to do as a football player on this football team. And they’re going to do it. Confront and demand, that is something we do and we’ll continue to do. The best part about it is these guys they typically respond very well to that idea, that mentality, so it’s kind of fun coaching because you can be as tough as you want to on them and at the same time, they’re ready to come back for more. They are so hungry to learn and to understand better and to really immerse themselves in what we’re trying to teach them. You don’t want to say anything bad, but them having not played so much prior to, it just makes them more hungry to be the guy.”
Q: Where does your energy come from?
Shephard: “Certainly you guys all know I’m from Indiana, and there are a lot of guys from my hometown who were very good players, very good athletes who maybe didn’t make it and probably were better than me, although it’s hard for me to admit that. Those guys didn’t make it, so I fortunately did a good job in the classroom and all those good things to be able to make it, and it motivates me to go out there every day and realistically, I have to bring energy every day because, you know what? One day, I might be trying to work on something specific and those guys didn’t get it yesterday, they didn’t get it the day before and, finally, today is the day when they actually get it and all of a sudden, I’m all tired and lethargic and I didn’t put enough into them to actually help them to get and understand what it was that I wanted them to understand, then it might take a month for them to actually understand it from there. So I can’t take a break. I’ve got to go at it hard every day.”
GoldandBlack.com: Do they tune you out because you’re like that all the time?
Shephard: “No, absolutely not. You’re going to hear my voice. It’s one voice. That’s part of it, too. If I’m loud and coaching this one guy, well, I don’t have to coach the other 30 guys behind him. They can hear what I’m telling this guy, and I’ve told them this, I’m yelling because I want all of you guys to hear it so that everybody can have that opportunity to have that learning moment.”
Q: What’s a low-energy day for you?
Shephard: “Um, I really don’t know what that looks like as of right now. If you could see me with my kids and my wife, I’m pretty chill, low key, hanging out with them. I guess low key would be watching a movie. We went to IMAX, saw ‘Beauty and the Beast’ with my daughter, my 3-year-old. It was awesome.”
Q: Being an Indiana guy, how important is it for you to help recruit this state and get Purdue to be a player in this state again.
GoldandBlack.com: “Certainly hugely important, on a personal level as well as just for our organization. I think that the (high school) coaches know that I’ve coached in state, I played in state. There’s a lot of talented players that come from the state. I represent it big-time. Obviously, I think it’s hugely important for me to go out there and show my face and show them, ‘Hey, we’re coming after you kids, OK? Now send a couple of them to us, too.’ The pressure will on them. I’m going to be straight up and honest with you: If kids don’t come to Purdue University out of the state of Indiana it’s because they didn’t send them to us. They diverted those kids somewhere else. We’re going after them hard. We have five or six coaches recruiting in Indianapolis. We have coaches all over the state, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Bloomington, we’re all over the state. So if they don’t come here, we are actively recruiting those kids, probably more than anybody else at this moment, at this juncture in the recruiting process. If they don’t come, it’s not going to be because we weren’t going after them. That’s where it’s at.”
GoldandBlack.com: The skill set in terms of guys who can catch the ball well, guys who have that speed, guys who can be a playmaker, how many of those guys do you have right now?
Shephard: “We have a couple of them. We definitely have that. I think they’re growing more and more into that mold. It’s always a work in progress when you talk about guys who haven’t played a lot. They have to have that expectation that I’m going to be ‘the guy.’ If we keep pushing it on them and dumping it on them, then eventually somebody emerges from all of that. The reality of it is, if all of them are kind of thinking that they’re the guy, you probably don’t have anybody. Hopefully somebody emerges from the group and says, ‘I’m the guy, and I’m going to take it over.’ Greg Phillips, I put that pressure on him all the time. We’ll see what happens with him.”
GoldandBlack.com: He’s obviously the guy who’s had the most game experience.
Shephard: “No doubt about it, but we’re not going to give it to anybody. I don’t care what you did before. We’re evaluating these guys every day and as they continue to go forward, we’ll keep evaluating them and make decisions as they come.”
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