JaMarcus Shephard officially announced as WSU inside receivers coach

The Washington State Cougars have officially announced the hiring of JaMarcus Shephard as inside wide receivers coach, Mike Leach announced in a release Monday. Shephard replaces Dave Yost, who left for Oregon after two years on the Palouse.

"JaMarcus is a tremendous coach and will fit nicely within our program," Leach said in the release. "He has a great passion for coaching and recruiting, is familiar with how we attack from an offensive standpoint, and believes strongly in not only improving every day on the field but also in the classroom."

Shephard, 32, joins WSU after a quick rise at Western Kentucky where he served as a volunteer assistant in 2011 and 2012, offensive quality control coach in 2013, then helped produce one of the top passing attacks in the country as receivers coach over the last two years. He also served as co-special teams coordinator last season.

While Shephard doesn't have any direct links to Leach, the Western Kentucky offense uses a lot of the same principles as the Air Raid. WKU finished the season ranked No. 4 in the country in passing offense at 372.2 yards per game.

There's likely to be another shift in recruiting territories with Shephard joining the fold. Yost covered Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana, though Leach may want to use Shephard in more talent rich areas. Shephard, who will likely be on the road this week, recruited Florida, among other areas in the Southeast, while with the Hilltoppers.

With Shephard on board, Mike Leach's staff for 2016 is now complete. Dave Nichol replaced Graham Harrell prior to the Sun Bowl. For more on this hiring, you can check out our previous post on the Cougars' newest assistant.