Shepherd starts anew at UIU

Other awards Shepherd earned were being named the Imperial Valley League player of the year, All-CIF-SDS first team on offense by the Breitbard Athletic Foundation and the 2004 California Medium Schools player of the year by CalHiSports, which also named him to the all-division’s second team and medium schools (Division III) first team all-state.

After graduation, Shepherd spent the 2005 season in Yuma playing for Arizona Western College before transferring to San Diego Mesa.

“At AWC I played and I got to start at the end of the season, but it wasn’t for me and I wasn’t happy there,” Shepherd said. “So I transferred to Mesa and sat out my first year there but I was practicing and learning the system and training.”

In 2007, Shepherd succeeded his Wildcat teammate Derick Barkum, currently playing at Arizona, as the Olympians’ special teams star.

“I replaced Derick, who’s my good friend, and I was returning kicks and I had a pretty good year overall with around 1,100 multipurpose yards,” Shepherd said.

Shepherd also made an impression on Mesa defensive tackle Scott Fader.

“He’s legit. He’s a player, and he had accepted a scholarship to UIU,” Shepherd said. “I was looking around for a school and he called and told me they needed a running back and I had faith in him so I called.”

Shepherd found that the Peacock coaches were interested.

“They told me I’d have to compete for a job and that’s what I’m doing,” said Shepherd, who has seen limited action in the Peacocks’ first two games.

Shepherd, a junior, is enjoying life at UIU, which has about 6,000 students and is located in the small college town of Fayette, Iowa.

“When we have home games the stands get packed because they are small and I love the field because it looks like carpet but it’s grass and it’s short so I can use my speed.” Shepherd said. “This town is definitely smaller than Brawley but I like it and the weather’s cooler. I can’t wait for the snow.”