Seems like a great character guy, nonstop motor, has a lot of similarities to Earl Mitchell as a defensive tackle. Everyone has been talking up how powerful his hands are and he's been having his way with most of the OL at the Senior Bowl.
He suffered an injury which turned out to be a broken hand but based on what he's shown thus far, he should be in play as a mid to late round pick in the draft.
https://scout.com/nfl/denver-broncos/Article/NFL-Long-Shot-Nathan-Shepherd-Turning-Heads-At-The-Senior-Bowl-114164448
One player no one was talking about but has the entire Senior Bowl community abuzz is defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd. He is the first player ever to be invited from Fort Hays State to the Senior Bowl. They are not a college known for producing NFL talent.
In fact, the last time a player was drafted from Fort Hays State was back in 1987, when wide receiver Frankie Neal was taken in the third round by Green Bay. Beyond Neal, only one other player was taken and that was in the 17th round when the NFL Draft seemed to only stop when they ran out of players teams wanted.
The Senior Bowl selection committee was taking a chance inviting somebody from such a small school, but that risk has paid off big time. Nathan Shepherd has been destroying the North team offensive line time and time again. He is winning with speed, power, and technique.
All that he flashed on tape at FHSU is showing up in droves here in Mobile. Talking to some people in the NFL scouting community, they think that if Shepherd continues to show up well, he could find himself as a day two surprise. Most still view him as a day-three pick, but I can promise you more eyes will be on him to see if he can reproduce the same production as Tuesday.
He grew up in Ontario, Canada, and played his collegiate year at Simon Fraser University in Canada. He started off by playing linebacker and was asked to transition to the defensive line. At that point he was only 6-foot-1 and weighed 205 pounds. He was asked to play on the scout team at defensive end. Over the next year, he was able to gain about 50 pounds and go from playing defensive end to defensive tackle at 250 and started every game his second year.
Unfortunately for Shepherd, he ran into some financial hardships. He had to leave the college and find work.
Shepherd started working some odd end jobs such as working at a plant nursery and did some electrical construction, following in his father's footsteps. As time went on, Nathan continued to bounce around a bit, finding work and trying to take some community college classes along the way.
In 2014 he had some of the junior colleges in the area reach out to Fort Hays State and recommend that they contact him. Thankfully, they listened and called him up, but at that time could not offer him a scholarship.
So Shepherd took a risk and moved down to Kansas and walked on at their football program. It didn't take long, though, for the coaches to see the talent and he was offered to be on scholarship. He was able to finish his degree and is now looking like a player that will quickly climb up NFL Draft boards leading up to April.
Fort Hayes State DT Nathan Shepherd is giving me Brandon Williams feel, but more athletic. pic.twitter.com/QQF5PJ7mnb
— Josh Zimmer (@JZimmer_) January 23, 2018
Dude is a f**king beast!
