{"id":674482,"date":"2026-01-13T17:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T17:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/674482\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T17:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T17:17:12","slug":"qa-oregon-state-coach-jamarcus-shephard-on-nil-spending-belief-in-his-staff-navigating-the-transfer-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/674482\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Oregon State coach JaMarcus Shephard on NIL spending, belief in his staff, navigating the transfer portal"},"content":{"rendered":"

CORVALLIS \u2014 In the lobby of the coaches\u2019 offices at Valley Football Center, Oregon State<\/a> quarterback Maalik Murphy and new defensive back signing Isaiah Houi<\/a> were all smiles.<\/p>\n

Head coach JaMarcus Shephard greeted them both with a loud voice and relentless, positive energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just talking about you,\u201d Shephard said to Houi as he dapped him up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas just talking about you, too,\u201d Shephard told Murphy before pointing at his Jordan sneakers. \u201cYou gotta chill with them \u2018fits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy laughed. It wasn\u2019t fake or forced. All the tension from a disastrous 2025 season appeared lifted from his broad shoulders.<\/p>\n

For all the uncertainty swirling around college football and the uphill battles the Beavers face at every turn, the vibes have visibly shifted in Corvallis.<\/p>\n

The Oregonian\/OregonLive sat down with Shephard on Monday for a wide-ranging interview, discussing everything from artificial intelligence<\/a> to the transfer portal.<\/p>\n

Below is a transcript of part one of that conversation, edited for length and clarity. Part two will publish on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Ryan Clarke: It\u2019s obviously been a busy few weeks. How has your family adjusted to the move to Corvallis?<\/p>\n

JaMarcus Shephard: I have just a super supportive family. My wife and our kids, they\u2019re partly used to it, the moving around the country. At the same time, they have known that this has been a goal of mine for quite a while. And so, they are excited about how this is turning out. Coming out here to Corvallis, we were just overjoyed at just being in the smaller environment like this to give us the best chance to, honestly, stay even more connected as a family. I think this is really a great place to raise our family in this next phase of their lives. And the people have been really fantastic and accepting. I went to the rodeo the other day for New Year\u2019s. I can definitely say I\u2019d never been to one of those before. Had a couple in town invite us to come out there and just spend some time for New Year\u2019s. So, folks have been super, super great in terms of receiving me and my family.<\/p>\n

Have you been able to get out into the community much, check out some restaurants? Or has it been a lot of Uber Eats to the office?<\/p>\n

(Laughs) You know, when I do eat \u2014 because oftentimes I\u2019m forgetting to eat right now \u2014 Madison Sweezy, our director of football operations, she\u2019s done a great job of just trying to keep me on top of eating. But I\u2019ve gotten to a few restaurants. I\u2019ve gone into those restaurants on the phone. And you know what? Didn\u2019t even order anything. I did have a chance to eat at Murphy\u2019s a couple times. And the owner there, he\u2019s been outstanding. Every time I walk in, he\u2019s very deliberate and intentional about making sure everything is being done in a first class manner. And with all of our recruits going over there, too, he\u2019s been outstanding.<\/p>\n

It seems like this transfer portal season has been about production over potential, focusing mostly on productive guys from the FCS level. What is the philosophy behind that?<\/p>\n

I think that right now we just need to get some guys in here who love football. And how do you know somebody loves football? They play football. There\u2019s just so many young people who, I don\u2019t even know if they really love football if they\u2019re transferring from this school to that school, to this school to that school, to not play, to not play, to sit and watch and just never play football. How much do you really love football? The things that I really love, I actually do them, you know? I love playing table tennis, so I play table tennis. Now, there\u2019s some projections, and we\u2019re bringing in a couple of them that I think prior relationships allowed us to make a decision on bringing them in. And so, it really did become exactly about that. We want to do a good job with guys who actually had production, but also lean into our relationships to make sure that we brought in a group of guys who go out there and can be competitive right away. There\u2019s limitations in terms of who you can bring into the program, knowing that some of these schools are willing to pay at a rate that, quite frankly, a little bit ridiculous. Some of the numbers and things that I\u2019ve heard from players, coaches, agents, and even other college coaches are ridiculous. We\u2019re gonna keep it simple here, and we\u2019re gonna make sure that we give as many people on our roster as possible the opportunity to benefit from what we can do. But we\u2019re also not gonna put ourselves in a position where somebody\u2019s not available and now we can\u2019t field a good football team because of a couple players.<\/p>\n

What would you say to fans who are concerned about the program\u2019s ability to invest in talent when so many of these guys are coming up from the FCS level?<\/p>\n

A coach at another institution called me and said that there was a player on his roster who played a total of zero snaps last year, and he\u2019s going to get paid $1.1 million from another institution. So, if we want to pay for kids who have never played to come in here for $1.1 million, I don\u2019t know, you tell me what business model would consider that to be successful. Honestly, some of these young people don\u2019t understand, either, that some of these schools are just trying to bring you in as a depth piece. And as a depth piece, you can earn more money at some of these schools than what we\u2019re gonna pay to start. We\u2019re doing the best with what we have available to us right this moment. And in this moment, I think we\u2019re finding really good gems that, hey, let them get out there, let them go play. Let these guys go out there and play a little ball and show that they want to play up. I\u2019m looking for guys who are hungry, who want to show that. Don\u2019t forget Cam Ward played at a little D-II school or whatever it was. And he ended up going to Wazzu and then lit it up and went to Miami on the way to being the number one draft pick. Okay? There\u2019s a lot of kids who were four-star kids that came to school here and did nothing. There were a lot of three-star kids who came here and did nothing. Did absolutely nothing. Well, at least we have evidence that these kids actually can play football in college.<\/p>\n

What has it been like working with your football general manager, Eron Hodges? What does he bring?<\/p>\n

We work really well together because he understands what my philosophy is, and I\u2019ve kind of given him the parameters for how we want to work in this space, and he\u2019s executing it. I know I\u2019m the one that has to take the heat for it, but this is what we have decided collectively as an organization to do. There\u2019s a lot of emphasis on making sure certain positions are obtained the right way, and also looking for some of these diamonds in the rough. Even one of the defensive backs that we\u2019re going to bring in (Isaiah Houi), we played against him last year at the place that I was at before (Alabama). And this kid, he played tough, physical. I mean, it was noticeable when we were playing against the kid. He played at a high level against a team that everybody universally believes is one of the better teams in college football. And so, if he can play well against them, then I think he\u2019ll play really well for us against the opponents who we\u2019ll go against.<\/p>\n

What are you guys working with in terms of revenue share and NIL money for this roster?<\/p>\n

It looks like we\u2019re sitting in the middle of the rest of the Pac-12. I don\u2019t really worry about what everybody else does, though. That\u2019s not my concern. A lot of people, everybody knows all the problems in college football. And that\u2019s what everybody wants to complain about. And they\u2019ve got an opinion about all the problems, right? And there are very few people who are trying to work on the solutions. And so, everybody has their problems. We\u2019re just trying to, you know, mitigate ours the best way we can.<\/p>\n

Another person you brought with you from Alabama is Mitch Dahlen, a young guy getting his chance to come home and be your offensive coordinator. What can you say about him?<\/p>\n

Mitch loves Oregon State. He loves his place. He grew up coming to games here since he was like one years old. His family\u2019s still out here. friends, people that he\u2019s had relationships with. His brother works at the Nike store up there in Beaverton. It\u2019s been exciting to see him be thinking about just how badly he wants this place to be great again. And the fact that he has the keys to our offense and he\u2019s going to be pushing the envelope to make the offense as good as it could possibly be. So, it\u2019s exciting to see it. I had the opportunity to go back to Indiana, where I\u2019m from, at one point when I coached at Purdue. It was a great opportunity because a lot of my family, friends and everything were there and got to be a part of it. So, I told him to get ready because there\u2019s going to be a lot of air mattresses bought, a lot of blankets bought, a lot of food. a lot of Gatorades and waters purchased. Because they\u2019re all gonna be crashing at your house, hanging out at your place all the time. So, just get ready for that because it\u2019s memories that you\u2019ll create that will last a lifetime. So, let\u2019s create some freaking great memories here, man. Like, I\u2019m excited to make some history here. And I\u2019m not very patient, so I want to do it now. I want to make some history now.<\/p>\n

What did you see from him when you were at Alabama that made you feel like he\u2019s the guy that\u2019s not only ready to take on that type of role, but can thrive in it?<\/p>\n

Well, he had done it before, so this isn\u2019t really the first time he\u2019s ever coordinated. But he was just consistent in his preparation. For Coach (Ryan) Grubb and the rest of our offensive staff, he was kind of the man behind the man, you know what I mean? He was the one that was spending a lot of time with the quarterbacks off the field, trying to help them learn the playbook, learn the scheme and the why behind what we were doing. Testing them, quizzing them, questioning them, taking their thoughts into consideration and helping Grubb know and understand what was gonna work well for our quarterbacks and whatnot. But then, even on the field, he was the one pushing them through different drills and techniques to help them better develop on the field in an elite way. I thought he just did a fantastic job there. But he is also very innovative. He brought different ideas to the table, put ideas in front of the offensive staff, and just gave us the confidence that this was something that would work versus whatever team we were playing against. And so, his ability to develop that quarterback position, I\u2019d put it up against pretty much anyone in the country. And he\u2019s going to put it on display. He has an eye for it. He\u2019s got just the right amount of confidence that it doesn\u2019t boil over into that arrogance. But he\u2019s also got just enough humility. I\u2019m super excited to see what he does. I think he\u2019s wanted this opportunity for a while and he\u2019s about to run with it.<\/p>\n

Speaking of quarterbacks, one guy who had high expectations coming into last season but faced a lot of criticism for his performance is Maalik Murphy. He is back in the fold this year. What is your view of how Dahlen might be able to help him develop, and of the quarterback room in general?<\/p>\n

We have to be a developmental program here at the end of the day. We have to be focused on being able to develop. As I talked with Scott Barnes and the (hiring) committee about what was required to be successful here, I talked heavily about, yeah, we\u2019ve got to bring in great recruiters. But at the same time, if we\u2019ve got just a whole room full of great recruiters, then there\u2019s gonna be a log jam. Because if we recruit at the top, then all those kids at the top are going want more, more, more money. So, we\u2019ve got to be able to identify kids that can develop into becoming those four- or five-stars that you think of. That\u2019s where I think Mitch has done an excellent job of being able to see, hey, this mimics this particular quarterback. Whether it be Michael Penix or Ty Simpson or Jake Haener, he mimics or has skill sets similar to this guy. And so that\u2019s where, when you think about Maalik, he\u2019s got a lot of tools. He just has to be able to revamp how he\u2019s using those tools to make himself the most successful quarterback that he can be. I think one of the biggest tools, the greatest tool that he has, is his leadership. Like, I\u2019m walking by the field, and this dude\u2019s got the whole receiving corps out there catching balls all the time. I\u2019ve been excited about just him and his presence. It\u2019s been really great around the building. And I told him, we\u2019ve got to just tweak some things for you. And I think he\u2019ll definitely appreciate what we can do to help him become a better quarterback.<\/p>\n

Part two of The Oregonian\/OregonLive\u2019s conversation with JaMarcus Shephard will publish on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORVALLIS \u2014 In the lobby of the coaches\u2019 offices at Valley Football Center, Oregon State quarterback Maalik Murphy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[19862,331,7,49,48,4599,1569],"class_list":{"0":"post-674482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-beavers-football","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-oregon-state-beavers-football","14":"tag-osu-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115888930505014025","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}