Sterling Named All-American

Sterling Shepard's name is no longer synonymous with that of his famous teammate. While Sterling seemed to serve as the sidekick to Sanders over their first three years at Heritage Hall School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Shepard has completely cemented himself as a playmaker the nation must know more about.

The University of Oklahoma commit started this season well-known within the confines of the state because he literally carried his team to a state championship scoring all four touchdowns in a 28-14 win over Kingfisher in 2010. Even though he committed to one of the nation's most elite football programs, there were many recruiting analysts that doubted Shepard because of his size, lack of elite speed and level of competition.

Shepard stands at 5'11 185 lbs. and runs a 4.5 forty yard dash. That is hardly flying for someone who is supposed to be a nationally elite football recruit. He plays in Oklahoma's class 3A football, where the Chargers have won the state championship two out of the last three years and are well on their way to bringing home another gold ball. He has dominated a league full of smaller and slower players than himself. How is he supposed to be successful playing for the Oklahoma Sooners?

The simple answer that everyone comes back with after seeing Shepard live is that the kid just makes plays. He is not the biggest or fastest, but he is most likely the most dynamic play-maker this state has seen over the last couple of years. Sanders has scored touchdowns from kick-offs, receiving, rushing, throwing, returning punts, returning interceptions and finally returning a fumble throughout his high school career. He was named to the Oklahoma All-State team last year as a punt returner and will most likely make the team again this year at the receiver position.

Shepard has 55-catches, 1,005-yards receiving and 13 touchdowns this season as well as four touchdowns rushing and four more on kickoff returns and interception returns. He has eclipsed his numbers from last year's season already and is gearing up for the second round of the playoffs. His ascent into the national spotlight was intensified only a few weeks ago when Sterling Shepard and the Heritage Hall Chargers took on Bethany in a nationally televised game on ESPNU.

The color commentator to the game, Ton Lunginbill is one of the executives for the Under Armour All-American Game and after Shepard's third touchdown, Lunginbill decided he'd seen enough and he offered Shepard a spot to play in the game. The spot was the final available spot and Shepard became an All-American with his acceptance of the invitation.

Here Sterling talks about the opportunity to play in this game and his thoughts on the game as a whole.


Shepard has caught the interest of many different recruiting services with some believing in his skill more than others. ESPN's recruiting database has Sterling as a top 60 player in the nation, whereas Rivals.com sees Shepard as the number 239 player in the country. I do expect that number to change once the next list of top 250 players is released, but needless to say Shepard has done a great job of using his skills and ability to it's maximum level at this stage in his career.

He will have to take his game to another level while at OU, and i think he has the skill set to find success similar to what Ryan Broyles has seen while at OU. They have very similar skill sets and body types. Look for his impact to take time to flourish, like Broyles, but once it does I expect you will see a player who knows how to read defenses and understands how to find seams in the defense that he'll be able to use his skills to exploit.

I do not expect that Shepard will get much bigger in college, but I do expect his quickness to really go through the roof while the strength trainers train him to use his size as a weapon that will make defenders miss just as much as he'll be running by them.

Shepard has a bright future and now, more than ever people around the country are aware of it.