Athletes will search far and wide for any extra fuel for their fires. Fortunately for Duke, Nate Sheppard didn't have to look hard this offseason.
Despite being the ACC's second-leading rusher last season with over 1100 yards, Sheppard flew under the radar in the preseason. He was left off the Doak Walker watch list and left off numerous All-ACC/All-American teams. He took that personally.
He also took personally comments made by Tulane LB Dickson Agu in the lead-up to Duke's season opener against the Green Wave.
"If we can stop 20, stop him from going for 200 yards, we'll win the game. I think everyone just do their job and we'll win," Agu said.
That comment got back to Sheppard and Duke, and it was used to motivate the star sophomore RB, who popped off for a career game in the Blue Devils' 17-3 win to open the season. As it turns out, Tulane was unable to stop Sheppard from getting to 200 yards after all. He rushed for a career-high 227 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries.
“One of their linebackers, great player, made a comment earlier this week saying if they could keep No. 20 under 200, they could win the game. I think our O-line, our offense kind of took that personal a little bit," Sheppard said. "It was disrespectful not only to those guys, our wide receivers, our quarterback, our tight end Jerry Hasley, who I think is one of the best in the country,” Sheppard said. “They didn’t mention any of them.
“And then it’s disrespectful to think they can stop me. … So, we kind of took that and ran with it.”
Nate Sheppard and Duke are fine with being overlooked this season
There's no better encapsulation of Duke's consistently overlooked status than the fact that their star running back returned and nobody cared. The conversation was always more about Darian Mensah's transfer to Miami.
Sheppard is used to being overlooked at this point. So is the entire locker room:
"It’s part of my identity, at this point," Sheppard said. "Obviously, they judge us off of who left our program, not who’s here."
There's a clear chip on the shoulder for this entire team. Sheppard is the fulcrum. He's the head of the snake. Manny Diaz and the rest of the team made that obvious in the preseason.
But Duke is going to need more from the supporting cast. In particular, Duke is going to need more out of the QB position going forward. Because if it wasn't for an elite effort defensively, even a career-high 235 yards from Sheppard might not have been enough for the Blue Devils to pull out a season-opening win.
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