Local guard plots his next move
August 23, 2017
Another chance to prosper
August 23, 2017
A few weeks after the end of the 2016 football season, E.D. White coach Chris Bergeron called his junior class together for a meeting.
The coach knew those players would be seniors in the 2017 season and he wanted to make sure they got their offseason started on the right foot so that they could lead the team into the future.
Senior halfback Nik Shanklin remembers that day and said he took his coach’s words to heart.
With his senior season now here, he hopes to carry the coach’s wishes onto the field in a big year.
Shanklin is one of the bright spots on an E.D. White team that has several returnees off a team that won a playoff game last year in the Division II Playoffs.
He said he’s had a good offseason and a good start to camp, adding that he’s embraced being in a leadership role within the Cardinals’ locker room.
“Coach called in all the 2018 seniors and told us to bring more energy and fire to the team,” Shanklin said of the meeting the team had last spring. “And that’s what we do. We’re screaming, hollering and bringing intensity on the field and in the weight room.”
Shanklin is a beast on the field and he said getting better every day.
He’s been on the field in a prominent role since getting on campus, owning multiple varsity letters because of his speed, shiftiness and athleticism.
Shanklin said he models his running style after Dallas Cowboys halfback Ezekiel Elliott, whom he considers his favorite NFL player. The Cardinals’ halfback added that he’s been studying the dominant, physical runner since he was in the early stages of his career at Ohio State.
“I’ve been a fan of his since I saw him play Oregon in the regular season and then Alabama in a bowl game when I was in the ninth grade,” Shanklin said. “To me, we almost have the exact same running style. I watch a lot of Cowboy games and old Ohio State highlights to see how I can improve by watching him. I even wore the No. 15 my sophomore year to honor him because he’s my favorite player.”
As a sophomore in 2015, Shanklin rushed for more than 1,000 yards – breaking out onto the scene for a Cardinals team that beat rival Vandebilt to open the season and then stormed to a 7-5 season, which included a playoff victory.
In 2016, E.D. White started slow – in part because of youth after losing a big senior class in 2015. But the team grew up as the year went on and ended with a bang. After starting 0-4 to start the season, the Cardinals steadied the ship mid-season and won three out of their final six games to close the year.
Once in the Division II State Playoffs, the Cardinals pulled the shocker of the season, upsetting Vandebilt on their home field – the same Terriers team which beat E.D. White by 34 points to open the year.
Shanklin played a huge role in the playoff win, rushing for two touchdowns to push the Cardinals forward – the icing on the cake of another productive season.
“He’s gifted with the ball in his hands,” Bergeron added of Shanklin at TGMC’s Media Day event last month. “He is dependable and can hit the hole and make the defenders miss. We’re definitely glad to have him and it’s even better that we have him back for another season.”
But Shanklin said he’s not satisfied with anything he’s done in the past, touting that he wants 2017 to easily be his best year yet.
Over the summer, he said he worked with the staff at Camp Moula almost every day to perfect his footwork – something he hopes to showcase in the new season.
“They helped me focus on making cleaner cuts and more agility,” Shanklin said. “(Trainer) Ernest Harvey Jr. would always make me do resistance training and make me do one or two more reps because he wanted me to do everything at 100 percent.”
Shanklin said that summer preparation, as well as his renewed focus on being a leader has translated into a solid start to preseason camp. He said this preseason has been the best one he and the Cardinals have had during his career with the team.
The senior said he accepts the expectations he’s placed on himself with stride, touting with pride that he wants to be a go-to guy every Friday night for his teammates – a guy who produces every, single time the team takes the field.
The Cardinals’ road to prosperity in 2017 will be a little tougher than it’s been in the past, as this is the first season the team is in Class 4A – now in a district with Vandebilt, Assumption, Ellender, South Lafourche and other local powers.
Shanklin conceded the team’s schedule will be tougher, but said it doesn’t matter because the Cardinals are focused internally. He believes if the team plays its best every Friday, they can beat anyone on the schedule.
“Camp is going great,” he said. “We have great talent on our team and we all want to succeed more than we did last year. For me, my goal is to be the player teams have to modify their defenses to stop and also to become the player my coaches, family and trainers expect me to be.”
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