Sterling Shepard

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Every successful collegiate football program has at least one player who the scouts notice even before they know his name. For the Giants, when visiting the University of Oklahoma, that player was Sterling Shepard.

“You go to certain schools, there’s young guys like, ‘Man, who is that guy,’” said Marc Ross, the Giants’ vice president, player evaluation. “He’s been that guy at Oklahoma, just because he’s always made plays, quick, athletic, competitive, savvy. He’s just been a playmaker for them since the time he stepped on campus.”

Now he’ll make plays for the Giants, who selected him in the second round of the NFL Draft, the 40^th overall selection. Shepard should team with Odell Beckham Jr. – who tweeted, “We stole one!!!” – and Victor Cruz, who the team is hopeful will regain his health after two injury-plagued seasons, and with whom Shepard has been compared, to give the Giants a lethal threesome of targets for Eli Manning.

“That name (Cruz) came up when our scout group talked about him,” general manager Jerry Reese said. “That’s one of the names that came up, a young Victor Cruz. Very similar in some ways, body type. The one thing about this kid is he’s 5-10 and some change, but his strike zone is bigger than that. He’s got a 41-inch vertical jump, he’s got big hands. He’s a tenacious slot receiver, runs after the catch. Get the ball to him quick and he does some nice things after the catch, as well. Yeah, Victor Cruz was one of the names that came up.”

Cruz, of course, was not drafted. Shepard’s collegiate work merited his selection early on the draft’s second day. In four yearsat Oklahoma, the 5-10, 193-pounder played in 50 games with 41 starts and caught 233 passes for 3,482 yards (14.9-yard avg.) and 26 touchdowns. He also averaged 7.3 yards on 30 punt returns.

In 2015, Sterling started all 13 of Oklahoma’s games and had career-high totals of 86 receptions for 1,288 yards, and 11 touchdowns.

Shepard’s father, the late Derrick Shepard, played at the University of Oklahoma and for Washington, Dallas and New Orleans in the NFL from 1987-91.

“We got a great pick tonight,” coach Ben McAdoo said, “Sterling Shepard, tremendous young man, high character, plays the game the right way, plays the game the way it should be played, feisty player, can separate both inside and outside, strong hands, he’ll block you and we’re fortunate to have him, fortunate that he was on the board when he was.”

McAdoo had a quick response when asked if he can envision playing Beckham, Cruz and Shepard at the same time.

“Absolutely,” McAdoo said. “We play a lot of receivers, and we like to use a lot of different guys there. Dwayne Harris factors there as well. He had a nice year. Geremy Davis is coming along, Myles (White) has done some good things for us, and there are a lot of guys who are in the mix as far as that goes. The more the merrier, the better the competition.

“It gives you more flexibility. Obviously, Odell is a difference-maker, and Odell is a guy that is going to play inside and outside, he is going to be on the single side, he is going to be to the three receiver side, he is going to be in the backfield. He is going to be a little bit of everywhere, so the other positions have to have flexibility.”

Shepard is equally excited to line up with his decorated teammates.

“I mean, (Beckham is) one of the guys I look at,” he said. “I look at his game every week, and I try to pattern my game after him. I was excited to be able to get drafted by the New York Giants and be able to play alongside him, as well as Victor Cruz – another guy that I look at, too. I’m excited.”

If Beckham, Cruz and Shepard begin the season as the Giants’ top three wideouts, the Giants will line up with receivers who are, respectively, 5-11, 6-foot and 5-10, an apparent height shortage that concerns…no one.

“You’d like to have all of them 6-5 that run 4.4 and all that,” Reese said, “but it’s just not the way it is all the time. I think that there’s a lot of tall receivers in the Hall of Fame that probably never even played in a Super Bowl, if you look at that history. We think he’s plenty tall enough, and we think he’s a terrific young receiver.

“He plays in the slot. He’s just crafty and knows how to get open in his routes. He has the quickness, the explosion in his route, the run after the catch, and the toughness to go over the middle, those kinds of things. Good bloodline, too; he’s been around football all his life.”

Shepard said his height has never been an issue on the field.

“Honestly, I play so big, I don’t limit myself to just the inside,” he said. “A lot of people think that that’s all I can do is play inside just because of my size. But I think guys like Odell and Victor have proven that that’s not the case. I’m definitely one of those guys that can be bounced around and move all around.”

The Giants will certainly take advantage of that versatility.