Fresno duo plan to play together
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Tee Shepard is answering questions after the Stanford NIKE Camp last weekend and behind the crowd of reporters stands Deontay Greenberry making faces, telling jokes and trying to get Shepard to laugh.
The two Fresno, Calif., standouts are close friends - and even more than that they have decided to play together in college.
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Shepard has already committed to Notre Dame and seems set on the Irish and so that leaves one question remaining for Greenberry: When is he going to commit?
"They're at the top of my charts right now," Greenberry said of Notre Dame. "We agreed since we were little we were going to the same college so that plays a big factor, too.
"I'm going to narrow down my college choices and I'm going to end up committing before my senior season starts."
Alabama and Boise State are two of the newest offers for Greenberry, a 6-foot-3, 187-pound wide receiver who also has Arizona State, Cal, UCLA, UNLV, Washington, Washington State and others on his list. Rivals.com rates him No. 115 in the 2012 recruiting class.
Although Greenberry said he's going to play with Shepard and that Notre Dame is the leader, he added all options are still being considered so it's not a lock for the Irish just yet.
The Fresno Washington Union standout who emerged on the national scene at the recent Badger Sport Elite 7-on-7 in Las Vegas said the only two offers he's still waiting on are LSU and Miami.
Shepard, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound cornerback from Fresno Central East, committed to Notre Dame in early March and it really wasn't a surprise since the Irish had been recruiting him for almost a year. Notre Dame was always Shepard's dream school.
"I want to be with Notre Dame because they recruited me since last year," Shepard said. "Since then, me and coach (Mike) Denbrock have been getting really close. Notre Dame was my dream school. It was pretty up there plus I like Rudy."
Now his task is to convince Greenberry to join him in South Bend. It might not be a tough sell at all.
"Having Deontay there it should help Notre Dame," Shepard said. "They need some wide outs and that's my cousin so we should be cool down there."
Alabama, Auburn, Cal, Miami, USC, Washington and many other programs were after Shepard, rated No. 51 in the 2012 class by Rivals.com. The only defensive back from the West Coast rated higher is five-star safety Shaq Thompson from Sacramento (Calif.) Grant.
USC continues to pursue Shepard, who said he plans to take all five official trips to see parts of the country he's never had the opportunity to visit, but that he doesn't intend to work out at the USC Rising Stars Camp this summer.
"I want to take all my visits," Shepard said. "I want to see some places I've never seen before in my life. I want to enjoy it and have fun."
Shepard was sidelined in Las Vegas because of an injury and a tender shoulder kept him out of defensive back one-on-one drills this past weekend at Stanford. He played wide receiver instead and had lots of fun with it.
"I wanted to play receiver because that's what I've been talking about all week with my coach," Shepard said. "I said, 'Coach, maybe I should play receiver instead of d-back because my shoulder hurts.' That's what I did. I was just having fun."
Shepard and Greenberry were both having fun during Sunday's camp. That might continue for years to come in South Bend.