Germie Bernard Transferred to Alabama Due To Relationship With Kalen DeBoer and JaMarcus Shephard

The Alabama football program developed itself into one of the premiere destinations for wide receivers looking to head into the NFL under Nick Saban’s leadership. From Julio Jones to Jameson Williams the Crimson Tide saw nine receivers taken in the first round over a 14-year period with 12 receivers total selected across all seven rounds in the same time frame.

Saban retired in January creating doubts in the Alabama program’s ability to maintain the standards set under the legendary head coach. One area that should come through the transition unscathed is the wide receiver room. Alabama’s new head coach Kalen DeBoer played wide receiver in college and ensured that his receivers coach at Washington, JaMarcus Shephard, was one of the coaches who joined his staff in Tuscaloosa.

The duo’s ability to connect with their players and develop talent at a high level made transferring to Tuscaloosa an easy choice for Washington transfer Germie Bernard.

“The recipe that he [DeBoer] has of winning,” said Bernard on Wednesday. “If you look at his track record every school that he’s been to he’s winning and they have a great offense that’s going to get the receivers the ball and be explosive and that’s something I wanted to be in.”

It doesn’t hurt that DeBoer and Shephard just put three receivers into the NFL draft themselves as the Huskies just sent Rome Odunze, Ja’Lyn Polk and Jalen McMillan into the first three rounds of the draft. The Alabama coaching staff has complemented Bernard’s leadership during the transition and hopes for another draft success story in the spring.

“I think Germie has been awesome and has had a great camp and had a great spring. He’s a great football player,” said Alabama offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan. “Certainly, in addition to that, his leadership, his character, who he is as a person, his willingness to help those around him — he wants his teammates to do well. Obviously has knowledge of the system and has played in it previously. Germ’s been great and we’re lucky to have him.”

It goes even deeper than just football, though, with Bernard. The transfer commended Shephard’s influence on Bernard’s faith on Tuesday noting that his unselfish nature permeated the entire building.

“Obviously the coaching aspect, I mean you guys know what [Shephard] does. It’s more than that. The faith piece, the way he believes in God, and the way he spreads his word to his players. Everybody throughout the building. He’s a great man. He cares for others, he loves others, very unselfish. Man, like I said, he’s just a great dude overall,” said Bernard.