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<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Laurel senior Reed Sheppard signed a letter of intent Wednesday evening to further his academic and basketball careers at the University of Kentucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheppard committed to Kentucky before his junior season tipped off during the 2021-2022 season, and made it official today \u2014 he will be playing for coach John Calipari and the Wildcats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheppard said he fortunate to have his parents, Jeff and Stacey Sheppard, who both played basketball at Kentucky) help him through the recruiting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey were big in helping me get through it all,\u201d he said. \u201cThey had advice for me. I was super-excited, and blessed to have them go through that process with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheppard stated that once he received the offer last year, it didn\u2019t take him long to know where he wanted to play at in college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had a good idea in my head when I got the offer,\u201d he smiled. \u201cJust growing up in Kentucky, I always wanted to play for Kentucky. Coach (John) Calipari does such a good job of developing players and where they need to go outside of college whether it\u2019s basketball or outside of basketball. He has a great coaching staff, and the fans at Kentucky are the best fans in the world. So I\u2019m super-excited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheppard will now shift his focus for the upcoming high school season as he and his Jaguar teammates are set to defend their 13th Region title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n