MANDEVILLE, La. (WGNO) — When you think of the top running backs in the class of 2025, names like Harlem Berry from St. Martin’s and Vandebilt Catholic’s Jaylon Coleman come to mind.
Over in Mandeville, junior Nate Sheppard continues to showcase that he belongs with the best the state of Louisiana has to offer.
“He made a run down there and I walked up to him and I was like, ‘Dude, it’s just fun to watch you play’,” said Mandeville head football coach Craig Jones.
Mandeville running back Nate Sheppard is coming off a stellar sophomore campaign where he led the Skippers in both rushing and receiving with 1,700 yards of offense and 25 touchdowns.
“Just with the way football developing right now at the running back position, I mean, you got to be able to do both sides, do both of you know? So that’s what I try to do,” said Mandeville junior running back Nate Sheppard.
“I think it’s magnified because of what we can do offensively in the way we’re set up, but he’s got a phenomenal skill set because he’s phenomenal running the ball, but he’s got a great set of hands and he runs great routes and his ability to win in one-on-ones and stuff like that. It’s next-level stuff,” said Jones.
In the months leading up to his junior year, Sheppard made a conscious effort to be bigger and faster adding ten pounds to a skillset that features 4.4 speed.
“Going to the camps, you know, one thing you hear from all these other college running backs is, you know, you got to be fast. These dudes are all fast out here. Everybody plays at the same level. So you just got to improve your game and get faster,” says Sheppard.
Nate Sheppard currently holds offers from schools like Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Pitt, and Vanderbilt where his older brother and former Skippers’ star, Will Sheppard, is an All-SEC performer.
The standard Will has set for his younger brother serves as motivation for one of the top backs in the class of 2025.
“Brotherly rivalry, you know, just pushing each other, getting better. You know, I’m trying to beat him. What he did here, you know, he trying to say what I’m going to do at college, you know, and just we just push each other,” says Sheppard.
Mandeville will be back in action Friday night when they host Pearl River for their jamboree.
You can catch all of the high school football action on WGNO’s Friday Night Football, presented by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, Friday nights at 11 p.m. on Nola 38 the CW. The replay begins at midnight on WGNO.
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