The opportunity to return to Georgia as a member of Wes Johnson’s baseball staff was too good of an opportunity for Cam Shepherd to let pass by.

“He reached out to me after the position opened, and asked me if I had any interest, and I said absolutely,” said Shepherd, a former star shortstop for the Bulldogs from 2017-2020.

“I kind of went through the process of him asking me what I wanted to get into, if I had any interest in that spot,” he said. “To me, it was a no-brainer.”

Shepherd – who spent the last two seasons as an on-field assistant at Southern Conference champion Samford – assumes the role of Director of Baseball Operations for the Bulldogs.

Although his role will be more of an administrator, Shepherd hopes he’ll still have the opportunity to work with Georgia’s infielders.

Considering his expertise, there’s little doubt that he will.

Shepherd started and played in 198 games during his Georgia career from 2017-2020. He ended his career with the highest fielding percentage by a Bulldog shortstop at .970 in 834 total chances.

Shepherd also owns the single-season school record for fielding by a shortstop with a .987 mark in 2019. That record earned him an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove. He became the first shortstop in SEC history to go an entire 30-game league schedule without an error. He posted a career batting average of .261 with 45 doubles and five triples, 22 home runs and 119 RBI.

“I think it will be a little bit of both,” Shepherd said. “I think it will be more administrative stuff, but I hope I’ll also get a chance to get out there and work a little bit with the guys.”

Shepherd looks back at his two years at Samford fondly.

Under head coach Tony David, Shepherd worked with Bulldog infielders and outfielders, while assisting with hitting and recruiting.

“The people at Samford were awesome. Coach David and everyone on staff were awesome to me and I’m appreciative of him giving me that opportunity,” he said. “It’s a learning curve being on that side of things, learning the relationships and being more of a figurehead on that side of things to help guys further their careers and that’s really what I wanted to do.”

The fact he’s now able to do that at his alma mater makes this opportunity all the more special.

As an alum, Shepherd was thrilled to see the success the Bulldogs enjoyed under Johnson in making it to the Super Regionals.

“The guys who I played with, we talked now and then, and everyone was excited to see the program get to where it was last year,” Shepherd said. “When you play at a place for four years, you have passion for the place and always want to see them do well. That was really cool to see.”

Now that he’s once again part of the program, Shepherd said he’ll do everything he can in his new role to make sure that success continues.

“When you go to a certain place, and you have a certain place in your heart like UGA is for me, I’ll do anything to help this program succeed,” he said.