Jacoby Lamar Shepherd (born August 31, 1979) is an American former professional

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

player who was a

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) and

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Stillwater. ...

and was selected in the second round of the

2000 NFL draft The 2000 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Thea ...

by the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

. Shepherd has also been a member of the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

Dallas Desperados The Dallas Desperados were a professional arena football team based in Dallas, Texas. The Desperados played in the Eastern Division of the Arena Football League from 2002 to 2008. The franchise began play in as an expansion team, and have post ...

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division (AFL), West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did ...

and

Georgia Force The Georgia Force was an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States (part of suburban Atlanta) that played in the South Division of the American Conference. The team was owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn Je ...

Early years

Shepherd was born on August 31, 1979, in

Lufkin, Texas Lufkin is the largest city in Angelina County, Texas and the county seat. The city is situated in Deep East Texas and about 60 miles west of the Texas-Louisiana border. Its estimated population is 35,021 as of July 1, 2019. Lufkin was founded ...

. He played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

Lufkin High School Lufkin High School is a public high school located in Lufkin, Texas (United States) and is classified as a 5A school by the University Interscholastic League. It is part of the Lufkin Independent School District that serves the Lufkin area and cen ...

in Texas, where he was a star football player, track athlete and basketball player. He played at both wide receiver and

in high school.

College career

Tyler Junior College

In 1996, Shepherd recorded 40 tackles, one sack and four interceptions as a freshman at Tyler. After the season, he was named Co-Defensive player of the year. As a sophomore in 1997 he was named All-Southwest Junior College.

Oklahoma State

After 1997, Shepherd transferred to

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. During his junior year in 1998, he started two games and had 22 tackles, six pass deflections and two interceptions.

Professional career

Pre-draft

National Football League

Shepherd was drafted by the

in the second round of the

. As a rookie, he played in 15 games and recorded one interception. During the 2001 off season, he was hampered by a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

injury. On October 3, 2001, Shepherd was fined by the NFL, along with eight other Rams players for uniform violations. In a practice on October 25, Shepherd and teammate

Yo Murphy Llewellyn "Yo" Murphy (born May 11, 1971) is a former gridiron football player of multiple professional leagues. He was originally signed by the BC Lions in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as an undrafted free agent in 1993; he played colle ...

got into a heated fight, which included punches being thrown and facemask grabbing. kicking the other players sook For the rest of the season, he suffered from a

quadriceps The quadriceps femoris muscle (, also called the quadriceps extensor, quadriceps or quads) is a large muscle group that includes the four prevailing muscles on the front of the thigh. It is the sole extensor muscle of the knee, forming a large ...

injury. He recorded three tackles during the 2001 season. When the

were to become the 32nd team in the NFL, each team was required to put five players onto an "expansion list", Shepherd was one of the five Rams on the list. On March 28, 2002, the

traded a conditional draft pick in the

2003 NFL draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

to the Rams in return for Shepherd. Shepherd was waived by the Texans on September 2, 2002. Shepherd signed with the

on January 1, 2003. He was waived on August 26, 2003. The

signed Shepherd on August 30, 2003. In four games with the Jets, Shepherd had two tackles. After being tried at

dimeback In American football, a dimeback is a cornerback or safety who serves as the sixth defensive back (fourth cornerback, third safety; and in some rare cases, a fourth safety) on defense. The third cornerback or safety on defense is known as a nicke ...

, Shepherd was waived on October 1, 2003. Shepherd signed with the

on October 29, 2003. He was waived on November 25. With the Lions, Shepherd played in four games and had two tackles. On April 14, 2004, Shepherd signed with the

. He was released on August 13.

Canadian Football League

Shepherd spent time with the

during their 2005

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

. The

signed Shepherd on June 16, 2005. He was cut on June 18.

Arena Football League

After being released by Calgary, Shepherd joined the

. In his first year with Dallas, he had 10.5 tackles, one interception and one forced fumble. On May 3, 2007, at 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 ...

trade deadline In professional sports within the United States and Canada, a trade is a sports league transaction between sports clubs involving the exchange of player rights from one team to another. Though player rights are the primary trading assets, draft p ...

, Shepherd was traded to the

. With the Blaze he recorded 44.5 tackles and two pass breakups.

Personal life

Shepherd resides in

St George Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepherd, Jacoby 1979 births Living people Players of American football from Texas American football cornerbacks Canadian football defensive backs Players of Canadian football from Texas Tyler Apaches football players Oklahoma State Cowboys football players St. Louis Rams players Houston Texans players New York Jets players Detroit Lions players Oakland Raiders players Edmonton Elks players Calgary Stampeders players Dallas Desperados players Utah Blaze players Georgia Force players Sportspeople from Lufkin, Texas Green Bay Packers players