http://blog.nola.com/lsusports/2009/01/lsus_russell_shepard_entering.html
CYPRESS, TEXAS — Jack Welch is truly an old school football coach.
A 30-year career of bouncing around the high school, junior college and college ranks will do that. If Welch hasn’t seen it all, he’s 99 percent there. So one can imagine how often the Copperas Cove High School coach asks for autographs from opposing players.
Yet on Nov. 28, after watching Cypress Ridge quarterback Russell Shepard — an LSU recruit — nearly beat his squad in a Class 5A regional semifinal playoff game, he shook hands with Shepard and asked him to sign a copy of the game plan Shepard almost wrecked.
It wasn’t simply that Shepard rushed for 311 yards, passed for 225 and accounted for six touchdowns (three rushing, three passing) in a wild 55-48 finish. It was the way he handled himself after the game.
“I’ve coached against a lot of great football players, ” Welch said. “But if their attitude and sportsmanship did not equal their playing ability, I wouldn’t give them the time of day. But that young man was a quality young man, a sportsman. He hurt because his team got beat but was gracious in congratulating our players and coaches. I just thought, ‘This young man is special.’ ”
When Shepard enrolls at LSU on Monday, the Tigers will receive the No. 1 recruit (ESPN.com) in the country, and a person with maturity, wisdom, humility, kindness, focus, drive and perception far beyond his 18 years.
The person LSU fans hope will become at least part of the answer to the quarterback problems experienced last season also could become LSU’s answer to Florida quarterback Tim Tebow: a star athlete whose exploits serve as a platform for highlighting an even better individual.
He certainly makes a great first impression, with an effervescent smile and a strong handshake.
“Everybody here feels like it’s their first child leaving the house, ” Cypress Ridge Coach Gary Thiebaud said. “Russell Shepard the athlete is just half the story.”
Nola.com
1/10/09
