Derrick L. Shepard is a former

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

and indoor football

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. Shepard grew up in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, and attended Meadowdale High School. His football ability earned him a scholarship to Georgia Tech, where he participated in football for four years. After spending two years in training camps with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, Shepard began playing arena football. He played for the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

and the

Detroit Fury The Detroit Fury were an arena football team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. History The team was a member of the Arena Football League from 2001 to 2004 and played at The Palace of Auburn Hills, also the home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons. The ...

, before playing his next 5 years in

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

with the

Tennessee Valley Vipers Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Cincinnati Swarm The Cincinnati Swarm was a professional arena football franchise based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were members of the Midwest Division of the National Conference of the af2. The Swarm joined the af2 as an expansion franchise in 2003 along with the ...

and the Louisville Fire. After playing professionally for 9 years, Shepard became a coach of indoor football for the

Miami Valley Silverbacks The Dayton Silverbacks were a professional indoor football team based in Dayton, Ohio. The team was a member of the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL). The franchise started as the Miami Valley Silverbacks and joined the CIFL in 2007 afte ...

. He had been the Silverbacks Head Coach, as well as offensive and defensive line coach. In 2011, he led the Silverbacks to a .500 winning percentage, at the time a Silverbacks record.

Early life

He attended Meadowdale High School in

College career

Upon his graduation, Shepard received a scholarship to play football at Georgia Tech. Shepard

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

during his first season for Head Coach,

Bill Lewis William Lewis (born 1 August 1953) is an English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer.Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 86, National Museums Liverpool 2004, . Pages 6–30, Charles Thomson's essay, "A Stuckist on ...

. Shepard saw very little playing time under coach Lewis, who was fired after a 1–7 start to the 1994 season.

George O'Leary George Joseph O'Leary (born August 17, 1946) is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from 1994 to 2001 and the UCF Knights from 2004 to 2015 ...

replaced Lewis for the remaining three games, which Shepard started all three. During his junior year, Shepard scored the first touchdown of his life at any level, when he recovered a fumble and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown, which turned out to be the game winning score in a 28–16 game versus

N.C. State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

. His senior season he had one interception that he return 68 yards. After a 1997 game against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, Shepard was named the

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

Defensive Player of the Week.

Statistics

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

After not hearing his named called in the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

, Shepard signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

New England Patriots

In 1999, Shepard signed as a free agent with the

. He was waived on August 1, 1999.

Arizona Rattlers

In 2000, Shepard tried his hand at Arena football, signing with the

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. He recorded 4.5 tackles, 1 sack and two pass breakups on the season.

Detroit Fury

On April 11, 2001, Shepard was traded to the

for Kelvin Ingram. He played in just one game, recording a sack. He was waived on June 20, 2001.

Tennessee Valley Vipers

In 2002, Shepard played for the

of the

Cincinnati Swarm

In 2003, Shepard played with the

also of the af2.

Louisville Fire

In 2004, Shepard joined the Louisville Fire, also of the af2. On August 11, 2004, Shepard scored the game-winning touchdown against the Quad City Steamwheelers in a 53–48 game.

Dayton Warbirds

Miami Valley Silverbacks

In 2010, Shepard was an offensive and defensive line coach for the

. His former teammate, Brian Wells was hired as the team's head coach in 2010, and he convinced Shepard to suit up for the Silverbacks. Shepard appeared in just a single game, recording one tackle on the season.

Coaching career

Miami Valley/Dayton Silverbacks

In 2008, Shepard was named the head coach of the

for the 2009 season. The Silverbacks went 0-10 and decided they would not retain Shepard as head coach. In 2010, the Silverbacks hired a former teammate and coach of Shephard's in Brian Wells. Wells signed Shepard as a player for the Silverbacks, but after just one game, Shepard joined the coaching staff working with the offensive and defensive lines. In 2011, Shepard returned to the role of head coach for the Silverbacks, as they had found a new home at

Hara Arena Hara Arena was a 5,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in the Trotwood, Ohio suburb of Dayton. The facility began as a ballroom in 1956, added an arena in 1964 and grew to a six-building complex which closed in August 2016. At various times, it ...

. Shepard led the Silverbacks to a 5–5 record and earned the team their second-straight playoff berth. Their .500 winning percentage for the season was a Silverbacks record, until it was broken in 2012. Following the 2011 season, Shepard resigned as the Silverbacks head coach. In 2012, Shepard was once again the offensive and defensive line coach for the Silverbacks. He also received a role in the front office as the public relations director.

Dayton Wolfpack

On December 31, 2016, the National Arena League announced Shepard would the first head coach their Dayton expansion team, the

Dayton Wolfpack The Dayton Wolfpack were a professional indoor football team and a charter member of the National Arena League (NAL) in its inaugural 2017 season. Originally to be based in Dayton, Ohio, the Wolfpack had announced their home venue as the Nutter ...

. However, the team would fail to secure a lease for a home arena in time for the season and travelling team based out of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, took on the mantle of the Wolfpack for the 2017 season and Shepard is no longer involved with the team.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Derrick 1975 births Living people American football defensive linemen Miami Dolphins players New England Patriots players Arizona Rattlers players Detroit Fury players Dayton Sharks players Cincinnati Swarm players Louisville Fire players Tennessee Valley Vipers players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Players of American football from Dayton, Ohio