Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
WHITEHALL — Graycen Shepherd’s beard game is strong. You can tell he’s ready for life in the chilly Upper Peninsula.
The Whitehall High School senior signed his national letter of intent Wednesday to play football at Division II Northern Michigan University in Marquette.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Shepherd, who played linebacker for Whitehall, is listed as a defensive end in an NMU release announcing the Wildcats’ 12-man recruiting class.
In his senior season at Whitehall, Shepherd returned from a knee injury that wiped out his 2021 campaign and helped lead the Vikings to an historic 11-1 season featuring a West Michigan Conference Lakes Division title and Division 4 district championship.
Shepherd was a four-year varsity performer, who really hit his stride during Whitehall’s playoff run to the regional finals in the fall.
Despite missing four games rest his knees, he finished his senior season with 31.5 tackles, including 1.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for lost yardage. He was first-team All-West Michigan Conference and selected to the MLive Muskegon Dream Team.
Shepherd, who carries a 4.0 GPA and intends on studying psychology at NMU, was a key piece to a Whitehall defense that allowed only 13.6 points per game in the 2022 season.
Bowling Green, Air Force and Dartmouth were among the football programs that also had recruited Shepherd.
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