Kelvin Sheppard is one of several Detroit Lions coaches with NFL playing experience. But it’s Sheppard’s most recent time coaching the linebackers at LSU that might mean something important for the Lions in the 2022 NFL draft.
Sheppard is in Mobile with the rest of the Lions staff coaching the American roster in the 2022 Senior Bowl. The team’s LB coach stopped in for an interview with me as part of the Detroit Lions Podcast, and his LSU Tiger roots came out.
After breaking down his interesting path into coaching, Sheppard talked about what it was like to join the coaching staff at his alma mater. This week provided Sheppard, a former Senior Bowl player himself in 2011, a chance to coach one of his LSU proteges all over again.
“Damone Clark, that’s like my little brother,” Sheppard said enthusiastically. “That’s the guy that I mentored all last year. You talk full circle. When he found out he was playing on our team he was beyond excited.”
Clark is one of three LSU players on the roster, along with DT Neil Farrell Jr. and OL Ed Ingram, but the linebacker and the connection he has with Sheppard is perhaps the most critical one to evaluate. Clark had a decent week of practices, showing some coverage skills but really thriving in the pass rush 1-on-1s against American team RBs and TEs. His quick feet and burst smoked nearly every comer in the reps. He is generally expected to be a third- or fourth-round pick.
