(Giavani Shepherd 5-7 155 Jr. ATH Meadowdale) |
One of the most dynamic athletes in the state of Washington the past two years has been Meadowdale (Lynnwood) ATH Giavani Shepherd. During his sophomore season Shepherd played mostly wide receiver, but switched to running back as a junior in 2011.
“I love playing out of the slot, but my team needed me more at running back this year and I wanted to help us any way that I could,” Shepherd told Northwest Elite Index recently. “I played some on defense too this past season, but it was mainly in the big games, like the playoffs and the Wesco (3A) Championship Game that they used me on ‘D’.”
For the season, Shepherd totaled over 1,100 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns and posted seven tackles while playing corner in three games.
With that productivity as well as his outstanding quickness, Shepherd has what it takes to be a difference-maker at the next level, but he admits he wants to get bigger as well as faster.
“I’m lifting almost every day, just trying to get bigger and I want to get quicker and faster too,” Shepherd, who is 5’7″, 155 pounds, noted. “I’m also doing a lot of track and speed drills, so that’s really helping me with my speed and quickness. I always want to improve and get better. I challenge myself all the time and we compete as a team. That’s something I love about sports — competing.”
On the recruiting front, things haven’t been a bit slow, but he does plan to take in several camps hoping to showcase his talents.
“Washington has sent me a letter and I was at their camp last year with my team for the their 7-on-7 tournament,” Shepherd said. “I know I want to get out to some camps. I really like the way that Oregon State runs their program down there and I’m really interested to see how Washington State’s new coaches run it over there. I will be looking at camps and dates and and see which ones I can get to, but I definitely want to get out and show them what I can do.”
We will have more on Shepherd in the coming weeks as he gets closer to setting up his camp schedule.
