Why Germie Bernard thinks JaMarcus Shephard will be great Oregon State coach

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Germie Bernard is ecstatic for JaMarcus Shephard.

As the Alabama football wide receiver prepares for an SEC championship game against Georgia, Bernard shared his excitement for Shephard, Bernard’s wide receiver coach, and him being named as a head coach at Oregon State.

“It’s an exciting moment,” Bernard said. “It’s a blessing to be able to be a head coach, man. I’m very excited for him. This is one of his goals, and we all have goals in life. For him to be able to reach this accomplishment is a really, really exciting moment for me. Just seeing how much he has grown, how much he has helped me, I know that he’s going to be able to help a lot of other people.”

Bernard played for Shephard at Washington in 2023 before following Shephard and Kalen DeBoer to Alabama for the past two seasons. Bernard said Shephard’s “belief system” and his “experience within the game” will be beneficial at Oregon State.

Bernard knows firsthand what Shephard can do. Bernard has developed into Alabama’s top wide receiver over the past two seasons, leading the team wit 51 catches for 700 yards and six touchdowns in 2025. But it’s what Shephard has helped with off the field that has made the most impact, Bernard said.

“He really helped me off the field mature mentally,” Bernard said. “That’s been the biggest change for me, you know, mentality wise is growing up and maturing mentally.”

Shephard is the first assistant under DeBoer at Alabama to jump into a head coaching job.

Alabama takes on Georgia in the SEC championship at 3 p.m. CT Saturday, Dec. 6.

Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Germie Bernard thinks JaMarcus Shephard will be great Oregon State coach

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