Shepard is not a long ball threat from what I've seen. Perhaps he's gotten stronger, but his throw to DeBose in the HS All-Star game was a wounded duck that DeBose had to make a play on. I'm sure Shep has worked hard on it, so I guess we'll have to see.
He can throw (the long ball), but from what I've seen it's kind of inconsistent. I would be surprised if they put him in for a deep pass play. One good thing is, he's a good decision maker from what I could tell. If he can't throw, he'll run or throw it away, and he won't take all day to make that decision.
It's hard to say because JJ missed a lot of deep balls at the end of the GT game last season as well. The deep ball hasn't been a part of our offense for a lil while, it opens up the offense so much. We haven't had a good one since JaMarcus.
I still say we don't neccessarily need it. We won a championship with Flynn throwing short routes and running it when nothing was open. That kind of offense is quite effective at the end of the game, as the opposing D is getting tired. I our D keeps us in games, this will prove to be sufficient. Just prepare for "Cardiac Cats" games and you'll be fine.
