Duke football running backs coach Chris Foster first met Nate Sheppard in the spring of 2024 on the recruiting trail.

At the time, Foster was the running backs coach at Northwestern, recruiting Sheppard, then a junior at Mandeville High in Mandeville, Louisiana.

"The thing that stood out the most about him, he was a young man that was determined, that was hungry, that had a chip on his shoulder," Foster said. "To me, very mature in how he carried himself."

When Sheppard suffered a season-ending lower leg injury in mid-October of that year, it was Foster who was the first to reach out to him. And once again, Sheppard impressed.

"When I talked to him the first time, of course he was bummed," Foster said. "But then later on, as we got to talk more, he had a good attitude about everything

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