Ja'Quan Sheppard

Senior defensive back on Maryland's 2023 roster.

DB · Maryland · Sr. · #3

6′2″ · 202 lb · Zephyrhills, FL

CFB Index 54 · #151 of 339 cornersLow confidenceMaryland 2023 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

WR recruit

No. 1581 nationally · Signed with Cincinnati

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 defensive back on Maryland's roster.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Cincinnati in 2019.
Transferred from Cincinnati to Maryland in 2023.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at Maryland, 94 tackles, a first-team All-Conference season (2022) — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

20194 games

Signed with Cincinnati3-star out of Zephyrhills

202211 games

The role got bigger.

All-AACfirst

202313 games

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#1581 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2019–2023

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

2 honors · 1 category

🥈

ALL-AAC · 1ST TEAM

All-AAC 1st team (2022)

Coaching lineage · 2019–2023

1 coach

2019–2023

Mike Locksley

Maryland

Played his entire career under Mike Locksley.

2023 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2019Cincinnati11-3HC: Luke Fickell · Run-heavy

2020Cincinnati9-1HC: Luke Fickell · Run-leaning

2021Cincinnati13-1HC: Luke Fickell · Run-leaning

2022Cincinnati9-4HC: Luke Fickell · Balanced

2023Maryland8-5HC: Mike Locksley · Pass-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

54Rotational starter #151 of 339?

Low confidence6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: passes defended (97th percentile). Concern: qb hurries (24th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Passes defended#59 / 2842 · 97th pct

Solo tackles#615 / 2842 · 78th pct

Sacks#847 / 2842 · 62nd pct

1.0

Tackles for loss#1055 / 2842 · 60th pct

3.0

Tackles#1248 / 2842 · 55th pct

QB hurries#1486 / 2842 · 24th pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2023 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home8g	2.6	0.2	0.1	0.8
Road5g	2.0	0.2	0.0	0.4

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-78g	2.0	0.1	0.0	0.8
Weeks 8+5g	3.0	0.4	0.2	0.4

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Mike Locksley

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2023

Rotational

Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

54 · #151 of 339 corners

Three-star recruit. Now #151 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2023	Maryland	31	28	3.0	1.0	8	--	--
2022	Cincinnati	50	33	4.5	1.0	10	--	--
2021	Cincinnati	3	2	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
2020	Cincinnati	5	4	1.0	0.0	--	--	--
2019	Cincinnati	5	4	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		94	71	8.5	2.0	18	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 18 · 2023

W 31–13

vs Auburn

2 TOT · 2 SOLO · 1 PD

With B. Edwards — 126 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 76.6 · 50 rush yds (13 car) · 1 TD · C. Spangler — 35 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 41 LONG

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2023 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	W 38-6vs Towson	2	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 2	W 38-20vs Charlotte	1	1	1.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 3	W 42-14vs Virginia	1	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 4	W 31-9@ Michigan State	2	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 5	W 44-17vs Indiana	3	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 6	L 17-37@ Ohio State	2	1	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 7	L 24-27vs Illinois	3	3	0.0	0.0	—	3
Wk 9	L 27-33@ Northwestern	1	1	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 10	L 15-51vs Penn State	3	3	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 11	W 13-10@ Nebraska	4	4	1.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 12	L 24-31vs Michigan	6	6	1.0	1.0	—	1	Season-high 6 tackles
Wk 13	W 42-24@ Rutgers	1	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Bowl	W 31-13vs Auburn	2	2	0.0	0.0	—	1
Total		31	28	3.0	1.0	—	8

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology