Ajani Sheppard is showing this spring the signs of being a Power Five quarterback for Rutgers football. A player with enormous potential, Sheppard is going through the transition from high school to the Big Ten.
Sheppard comes to Rutgers off a strong senior season at Iona Prep (New Rochelle, N.Y.) where he showed significant polish to his game. Sheppard is capable of throwing a nice deep ball but also has the ability to make a number of short to intermediate throws as well.
He has good velocity and placement. His footwork has improved tremendously over the past year.
An early enrollee, Sheppard’s growth and development has been on display this spring.
“He’s really improving – by leaps and bounds,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano told reporters on Saturday.
“It’s good to see. You’re a young freshman quarterback out of high school, there’s so much to learn. So when I talk about it, the game goes a little faster, and I’m sure it’s going fast for him. But you can see where he gets it and when it all slows down, he’s going to really be a good player.”
Iona Prep went 9-3 last season under Sheppard. As a senior, he threw for 2,393 yards with 21 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also ran the ball 142 times for 1,291 yards with 11 touchdowns.
Recently, Matt Simms spoke to Rutgers Wire about Sheppard. Over the past three years, Simms has coached and mentored Sheppard.
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A former NFL quarterback, Simms believes that Sheppard to develop into a starting caliber Big Ten quarterback.
“He’s a guy that with a little bit more experience, he’s going to be, I think, someone that can be a very dynamic football player in the Big Ten Conference. And I really truly believe that because the Iona Prep offense is, for a high school offense, not the easiest offense to run and command for young men,” Simms said in his interview with Rutgers Wire.
“They just had the fortunate advantage of having a gentleman like Darius Wilson before him who was extremely talented and is at the FCS level, playing and performing extremely well.
“And then having Ajani who is extremely talented. And he’s someone that was relied upon as a runner a little bit more in high school because it’s easy to do that sometimes when you’re 6-foot-2, 235 pounds and run a 4.5 but he is definitely going to show some people that he has more than enough talent, to be a great passer in the Big Ten. And to be a great leader on that football team too just by the way that he carries himself.”
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