Nate Sheppard stayed at Duke when his teammates left, and now he is crashing the Heisman race

Nate Sheppard ran into the end zone five times in Duke's 47-2 rout of Boston College on Saturday, a school record, and after the fifth he struck the Heisman pose. The win made the Blue Devils (6-2, 3-2 ACC) bowl eligible for a fifth consecutive season.

Sheppard has scored 19 total touchdowns and leads the country in touchdowns and scoring. He enters the final third of the regular season with 972 rushing yards and 31 catches for 302 yards, leading Power Four players with 159.3 all-purpose yards per game and ranking second among Power Four running backs at 121.5 rushing yards per game.

Two days before Sheppard's 30-point afternoon, coach Manny Diaz made the case for him. "I don't know why the running back thing has become so devalued," Diaz told CBS Sports, adding that Sheppard "has the ability to affect winning, which is, to me, what that award should go to."

Few saw this coming. In January, quarterback Darian Mensah, who led Duke to its first outright ACC championship since 1962, entered the transfer portal on the final day of the window and landed at Miami, leaving behind what was believed to be an $8 million two-year deal for a larger one. His favorite target, Cooper Barkate, followed. Mensah threw for 3,973 yards with 34 touchdowns and six interceptions last season; Barkate caught 72 passes for 1,106 yards.

Sheppard, a second-team All-ACC freshman from Mandeville, Louisiana, heard from other programs too, but told Duke he was staying days before the other two left. "We were supposed to come back, kind of repeat things," he said, admitting the exits were frustrating. Diaz called it a chaotic day but said the message was that "the program isn't about one guy."

Duke plugged in San Jose State transfer Walker Eget at quarterback and rebuilt around the one star who stayed. Picked 10th in the 17-team ACC by media in July, the Blue Devils are winning with the nation's No. 9 scoring defense and a back who received no preseason All-ACC recognition despite rushing for 1,132 yards in 2025.

Sheppard added 10 pounds in the offseason to become a goal-line pounder, then expanded his game anyway. He threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to freshman Brody Keefe with 1:14 left to beat Virginia 19-16, the first pass of his career, on a play installed 48 hours before kickoff. Against Boston College, four of his five scores came from 4 yards or closer, one out of the Wildcat formation, and the other covered 54 yards, the longest touchdown run of his career.

Sheppard is one of only four players in the playoff era with at least 1,250 yards from scrimmage and 19 touchdowns through eight games, joining Melvin Gordon, Ameer Abdullah and Ashton Jeanty. "I definitely feel like I'm in that conversation for sure," he said of the Heisman. He and Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith are tied for the FBS lead with 42 plays of 10 yards or more, though Mensah, now leading undefeated and top-ranked Miami, moved atop the Heisman betting board after the Buckeyes lost at USC on Saturday.

The schedule ahead doubles as a reunion. Sheppard needs 28 yards at NC State on Saturday to become Duke's first player with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. A week later, the Blue Devils visit No. 1 Miami at Hard Rock Stadium, where his older brother Will is on the Dolphins' practice squad and where the family lived about two minutes away when Nate was born. Sheppard said he still talks to Mensah about once a month and wishes him nothing but the best. "It's just crazy how things come back around, man," his father, Willie Sheppard, said.

Florida State's firing of Mike Norvell on Sunday pushed Diaz, 24-11 at Duke with back-to-back nine-win seasons, into the coaching rumor mill. Sheppard said he stayed in January for his teammates and the coach he committed to two years ago. "Manny Diaz, I believe in his vision. I believe in what he preaches," he said. Willie Sheppard said the family will defer any decisions until after the season, even as suitors call again. "But right now what I can tell you honestly is that Nate Sheppard is a Duke Blue Devil," he said, "and it seems to be deep in his veins right now."