Q&A with Alabama’s Austin Shepherd-sds
For most of his career at the University of Alabama one really couldn’t have a discussion about senior offensive lineman Austin Shepherd without mentioning the beard. It was never quite
Duck Dynasty, but let’s just say that for a while there it was so bushy that he might have been able to use it as an airbag.
That started to change at the end of last season when the grooming and trimmings started to increase at the urging of his mother.
“I really didn’t want to, but she made me,” he said.
Shepherd took that to another level in August during training camp when it conjunction with Sigma Nu and Zeta Tau Alpha held the “Jocks and Locks” fundraiser during which he and other football players allowed people to cut their hair through an auction.
Proceeds benefitted the Austin Shepherd Foundation, which was launched on Oct. 18, 2012 to support children fighting illnesses.
Shepherd recently talked about that and his final season on the Capstone:
So what can you tell us about your foundation?
“Pretty much it’s the Austin Shepherd foundation. Me and my girlfriend Jenna King, her brother Jon passed away from cancer 10 or so years ago. She wanted me to go visit the hospital with her one day, Children’s of Birmingham. I was kind of nervous about it because I’m really uncomfortable in those situations, seeing kids like that. But we went up there, we kind of played with the kids, drew, painted, all that. I kind of fell in love with it. That night me and Jenna we got in the process of starting one. So we came up with that idea, so now we do the Austin Shepherd foundation. We try to bring a kid and their family to at least every home game. Before the event we raised over $30,000 so far and started the beads of courage program, which is hand-designed beads that people make. Every kid gets one for every overnight stay, every needle they get pricked into their arm. Heart transplant, kidney transplant, something of that nature, they’ll get a bead, and they just get strands and strands of them. The kids will have miles of beads and it’s about their journey so when they look back they can see what they have. That’s the gist of it, short term.”
So how did “Jocks and Locks” come around?
“One of my buddies, we were talking about fundraiser ideas, we talked about, ‘Man these Alabama fans would love to be around y’all. Auction the cut hair and people will show up.’ I think we raised close to $18,000.”
You had someone’s initials and a big heart on the back of your head, and another heart on one side.
“Mine’s not as severe as some of the others. We’re just trying to raise awareness for all this. Mine is a little girl named Charlie Jean. She’s 3 years old and just went into remission for cancer. She wanted a heart with her initials on it and I had to do that.”
How many of the players kept their haircuts through the season opener against West Virginia?
“Two or three. A lot of them were just so absurd that we had to get rid of them.”
Do you remember what your first start was like with the Crimson Tide, and did you offer any of words of wisdom for freshman left tackle Cam Robinson before facing the Mountaineers?
“Yeah, first start was Virginia Tech in the Georgia Dome, obviously the same spot. Pretty much all I told him was don’t let the crowd affect you, and there’s going to be a lot of noise. You kind of just have to X out of everything, just play. Look at your player and don’t think about anything around you or your surroundings.”
Did that first-start experience go by really fast or sort of go in slow motion?
“I mean, I guess the first start for me, it felt really long because we didn’t play as well as we wanted to. So, I mean, it’s different for everybody. For me it was long. We just didn’t play very well. That’s all we kept talking about and thinking about.”
How much does senior quarterback Blake Sims’ ability to tuck the ball and run help the offensive line?
“That’s huge for us. Blake could spin out, do something crazy. It’s good knowing in the back of your head that if you do mess up — hopefully you won’t — that you have a guy back there with the capability to just get out of it.”
Does your preparation change at all during the week when you’re facing a Southeastern Conference opponent?
“Yes and no. You always want to prepare for a game like it’s a Florida or an LSU or something, but going into SEC gets everyone excited. This is kind of what you live for. This is why you came to Alabama, to play teams like this. It’s just more mental prep because you have to watch a lot of film because these guys have multiple things about them.”
What’s the biggest difference for the line when Sims takes a regular snap under center versus going fast and the offense is in no-huddle mode?
“When we go with the fast pace it’s more one or two word things that are just quick and you get up to the line and run the play. When we’re in the huddle, I wouldn’t say it’s a long drawn out call, but it’s seven or eight words instead of one or two.”
So it’s coded when you’re going fast?
“Yeah it’s coded. You say one word and it means eight things.”
Who on the defense is the toughest to block as a pass-rusher?
“There’s a few. Actually, all of them. They all have different moves. A’Shawn Robinson’s a huge dude, who can bull-rush. Jonathan Allen, quick hands. D.J. Pettway, fast off the edge. I could go on forever. They all have something different that you have to be aware of.”
How is wide receiver Amari Cooper different?
“He’s just quiet. He’s silent. I don’t really know how to explain it. You try to talk to him and he’s a one-, two-word kind of guy.”
Is that kind of unusual for a wide receiver?
“You look at Christion Jones, for example. He loves to talk. Amari is the complete opposite. He’s silent and that’s just the way he is.”
He’s also pretty good, too, isn’t he?
“Just an amazing athlete. I wish I could be like that but I’m too big. He just makes people miss all the time. Super fast. He’s an unbelievable player.”
For more information about the Austin Shepherd Foundation contact http://www.austinshepherdfoundation.com. Also, Austin recently asked Jenna to marry him during one of their hospital visits, with some of their favorite patients helping out. She said yes.
