Nate Sheppard stayed at Duke when others left, and now he's crashing the Heisman race

Nate Sheppard ran into the end zone again and again Saturday against Boston College. After the fifth time, a Duke record, he struck the Heisman pose.

The 47-2 win made the Blue Devils (6-2, 3-2 ACC) bowl-eligible for a fifth straight season, thanks in part to Sheppard's record-breaking season, which includes 19 total touchdowns and leading the country in touchdowns and scoring. 

Two days before Sheppard scored 30 points on five runs, Duke coach Manny Diaz believed his running back belonged in the Heisman conversation.

"I don't know why the running back thing has become so devalued," he told CBS Sports. "Obviously there's great wideouts and quarterbacks all over the country. I understand that. … I mean, whether they throw it to you or hand it to you, it's a big deal. And he has the ability to affect winning, which is, to me, what that award should go to."

Left for dead

Analysts and outsiders didn't expect this to happen at Duke.

The bulk of Duke's offense walked out the door in January. Darian Mensah, the quarterback who led the Blue Devils to their first outright ACC Championship since 1962, entered the transfer portal on the final day of the window and landed at Miami. His favorite target, wide receiver Cooper Barkate, followed. Mensah threw for 3,973 yards, the second-best total nationally, with 34 touchdowns and six interceptions. Barkate caught 72 passes for 1,106 yards.

Sheppard was the third piece, a second-team All-ACC freshman from Mandeville, Louisiana. Other programs also called and tried to pull him away from Duke after the season. He told Duke he was staying, days before Mensah and Barkate left for Miami.

"I remember Darian called me and was like, 'I just got this crazy offer,'" Sheppard said. "And I was like, well, you know, you got to do what's best for you. If you think that's best, then go ahead. But obviously, it was a little frustrating. We were supposed to come back, kind of repeat things."

Mensah, who had previously agreed to what was believed to be the richest two-year deal worth $8 million at Duke, was gone for a larger deal at Miami. "It was a chaotic day, but you wanted to make sure everybody understood what the vision was here and that the program isn't about one guy," Diaz said. 

Duke replaced Mensah with San Jose State transfer Walker Eget and rebuilt around the one star who stayed. Sheppard spent the offseason preparing for it.

"He wanted it. He really transformed his body in the offseason and became a much stronger back -- more durable," Diaz said. "He wanted to be a short-yardage, goal-line type back and he's done a really good job of that."

Now Miami is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the polls, and Mensah has replaced Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith as the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.  

That wouldn't have shocked prognosticators in July, when the ACC media slotted the defending conference champion Blue Devils 10th in the 17-team league and picked Miami to win the conference title.

But Duke with a 6-2 record without Mensah and Barkate? That would have been a surprise. The Blue Devils are winning with the nation's No. 9 scoring defense and Sheppard, who didn't receive an All-ACC preseason honor despite rushing for 1,132 yards in 2025 as a freshman.

Doing it all

He enters the final third of the regular season with 972 rushing yards and 31 catches for 302 yards. He leads Power Four players in all-purpose yards per game (159.3) and ranks second among Power Four running backs in rushing yards per game (121.5).

Sheppard opened the season with a career-high 227 yards against Tulane and became the first Duke player named Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week. He has since collected seven midseason All-America first-team selections.

It's no secret what opposing defenses game plan to attack every week, and yet they still can't slow him down.

"Everybody's focused their entire game plan on him every week we've played," Diaz said. "As with any back, it's not going to always be easy."

So Sheppard found other ways. He bulked up 10 pounds to better prepare himself to become a goal-line pounder. "We got a [drill] called a dirt raid where I just put dudes in the dirt," Sheppard said.

Diaz also credited offensive coordinator Johnny Brewer for using him as a receiver out of the backfield.

"You don't see that a lot with tailbacks," Diaz said.

"Oh, I think this year I'm an underrated pass catcher. A lot of checkdowns, but I make them work," Sheppard said.

Against Virginia, he caught a lateral pass from Eget and threw a 28-yard touchdown to freshman Brody Keefe with 1:14 left that proved to be the game-winner in the 19-16 victory. It was the first pass of his career on a play coaches installed 48 hours before kickoff. The win steadied a season that had wobbled with back-to-back losses.

Eight days later, four of his five touchdowns against Boston College were 4 yards or closer, including one out of the Wildcat formation. The other went for 54 yards, the longest touchdown run of his career. It's hard to find comps for Sheppard. His father, Willie Sheppard, once believed his running style resembled former Alabama star Jahmyr Gibbs. Then he watched an end-zone view of the long run last week against Boston College. 

"I was like, OK, that looks like USC Reggie Bush," Willie said.

Never backpedal

Growing up, Nate tagged along with his older brother, Will, and Will's friends in front-yard games of tackle football. The two brothers separated by five birthdays raced, too.

"We haven't raced in forever. I don't think I ever really beat him," Sheppard said.

Willie remembers one race across a park after a youth practice, when Will offered Nate a head start.

"He did catch Nate. But it took some work," Willie said.

Willie coached Will's youth team, and Nate, then 6, joined the older boys in summer workouts. Coaches told the older kids to speed up because the 6-year-old was on their heels in drills.

Nate wasn't a highly recruited tailback out of high school. The former three-star prospect said his main options were California, Ole Miss, Northwestern and Tulane. "We all feel that Nate, and he's showing that now, was under-recruited and under-offered," Willie said.

Duke's running backs coach at the time was Willie Simmons, who led Duke's pursuit. Over breakfast on Nate's recruiting visit, Simmons mentioned he had played quarterback at Clemson. Willie's eyes opened wide. He played defensive back at Louisiana Tech and quickly realized he helped tackle Simmons for a 4-yard loss in the 2001 Humanitarian Bowl.

Willie was recruited to Louisiana Tech as a running back and switched to cornerback in college, a move he said he still regrets. During his son's recruitment, history seemed to be repeating itself. A major program Willie wouldn't name wanted Nate, who also played safety in high school, at defensive back. Nate thought about it for a couple of days. His father then asked him a question: When you're asleep dreaming about football, what do you see? 

"I still sometimes close my eyes and I dream about playing football. I'm on the grass. I have my pads on," Willie said. "In those dreams, not one of them have I ever backpedaled. I'm running the football."

Willie didn't want his son to have the same regret. Nate chose Duke and running back.

Nate's senior season ended in the eighth game at Mandeville High when he broke his right leg and ankle. His father believes his son was on pace to become the first running back in Louisiana high school history to score 50 touchdowns in a season.

Nate underwent surgery and enrolled early at Duke. 

The Heisman conversation

Whether Sheppard is a candidate for the Heisman Trophy is up to the voters. Still, he hears the chatter about the major awards. After the Boston College game, he said he came to Duke wanting to set records and garner consideration for the Heisman Trophy.

"I definitely feel like I'm in that conversation for sure," he told reporters.

The numbers back it up. Sheppard is one of only four players in the playoff era with at least 1,250 yards from scrimmage and 19 touchdowns through eight games. The others were Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon and Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah in 2014 and Boise State's Ashton Jeanty in 2024. Gordon and Jeanty each won the Doak Walker Award and finished second in the Heisman voting.

Asked last week who he would vote for if the Heisman ballot were due then, Sheppard didn't pick his old quarterback.

"Oh, I mean, probably Jeremiah Smith, like as of today," he said.

Smith and Sheppard are tied for the FBS lead with 42 plays of 10 yards or more. Ohio State lost at USC on Saturday, and Mensah moved to the top of the Heisman betting board after that loss.

In two weeks, Sheppard could make an impact on those Heisman odds when Duke travels to face Miami at Hard Rock Stadium. There's no bad blood between Sheppard and his two former teammates now on the nation's No. 1 roster. Sheppard still talks to Mensah "about once a month," as he's watched his former teammate's season from afar.

"He's great," he continued. "I wish nothing but the best for him, and he's been balling all season. It's been great to watch him do that."

Asked last week to imagine this already-successful Duke season supercharged with the likes of Mensah and Barkate still in Durham, Diaz declined.

"Don't really spend a lot of time in hypotheticals," Diaz said.

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Full circle at Hard Rock

Sheppard needs 28 yards at NC State on Saturday to become the first Duke player with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. A week later, Duke visits No. 1 Miami at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, home of the Miami Dolphins. Nate's older brother, Will, is on their practice squad after spending the preseason with the Green Bay Packers. 

The Sheppards know the neighborhood. The family lived about two minutes from the stadium when Nate was born, while Manny Diaz's father, Manny Diaz Sr., was the mayor of Miami.

"It's just crazy how things come back around, man," Willie said.

As Duke keeps winning, the stakes and national scrutiny rise. Florida State's firing of Mike Norvell on Sunday immediately pushed Diaz into the rumor mill as a candidate. He started his career in Tallahassee as a graduate assistant under Bobby Bowden and Mickey Andrews, graduating in 1995. He coached Miami from 2019 through 2021, going 21-15 before he was fired and replaced by Mario Cristobal. He's 24-11 at Duke with back-to-back nine-win seasons.

"If you don't have another program trying to get your coach or even sometimes your players, in today's age, are you really doing it right? Is it really going that well for you?" Willie said.

Sheppard stayed at Duke in January for his teammates and for the coach he committed to two years ago.

"Manny Diaz, I believe in his vision. I believe in what he preaches," Sheppard said.

As the spotlight intensifies on Duke's roster and coaching staff, the path ahead grows even more challenging, with three of the Blue Devils' final four games on the road.

"It doesn't matter where you play," Diaz said. "It's going to be a one-score game in the fourth quarter. It's gonna be who can finish and keep their poise."

Willie said the family plans to defer any decisions about the future until the season ends, fully aware that competing programs will try to entice Sheppard to leave Duke.

"But right now what I can tell you honestly is that Nate Sheppard is a Duke Blue Devil," Willie said, "and it seems to be deep in his veins right now."