Boston College football head coach Bill O’Brien is not one to talk down on other teams’ players, no matter who they are or where they come from.

Whether it’s the top team in the country, Miami, or FCS-level Maine, he often sees the best qualities out of every opponent the Eagles face. That is his job, afterall.

When O’Brien looks at Duke, who BC will face on the road this weekend, there are a number of players who jump out to him. The Blue Devils are one of the better teams in the ACC, and they have been since O’Brien started coaching the Eagles.

But one player in particular poses an undeniable challenge for BC’s defense, which has frankly turned into one of the top units in the ACC under first-year coordinator Ted Roof.

That would be Nate Sheppard, Duke’s sophomore running back who is well on his way to earning consensus All-American honors if he keeps up the pace he is currently on in terms of rushing production.

“Yeah, he’s a great player,” said O’Brien of Sheppard after Tuesday’s practice. “He and the guy that comes in to give him a rest, [CJ Campbell Jr.] is a hell of a player, too. So they’re very good. Their offensive line is very well-coached. They play together. The five up front, and then the tight end does a great job, too.”

Last season, as a true freshman, Sheppard totaled 1,418 all-purpose yards, 1,132 of which came on the ground, and 12 touchdowns en route to picking up Second Team All-ACC honors and a Freshman All-America selection by The Athletic.

Shepard finished fourth in the balloting for ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year, and his PFF rushing grade of 90.0 ranked sixth among all Power Four running backs.

Yet somehow, he is already close to topping his 2025 season totals through just seven games of his sophomore campaign, and he has already done so in the receiving touchdowns category with four compared to one his rookie year.

On the ground, the Mandeville, La., native has generated 875 yards and nine scores on 153 carries, good for an average of 125.0 rushing yards per game and 5.7 per attempt, all of which leads the conference among running backs.

In fact, only Boise State’s Dylan Riley (963) and Texas State’s Torrance Burgess Jr. (889) have more total rushing yards than Sheppard in the entire country that have played seven games this year — Tennessee’s DeSean Bishop and West Virginia’s Cam Cook both have more than Sheppard but in eight appearances.

Sheppard’s shiftiness is in a league of its own, as his ability to cut through lanes with lightning-quick bursts makes him impossible to slow down with initial contact.

His feet are like a rabbit’s, and once he finds open space with a little bit of separation, there is virtually no chance of catching up to him.

“Sheppard is really, really good,” O’Brien said. “Good runner, good in the passing game. Great in the passing game, whether he’s flaring out of the backfield or a check down. Whatever it is, he can do it all. So he’s one of the best backs that we’ve faced, if not the best back we face this year.”

It’ll be an interesting matchup considering BC’s defense has given up 151.1 rushing yards per game this season, which puts it in the lower half of the conference in terms of rushing defense. The Eagles’ passing defense, on the other hand, ranks second in the ACC, as it surrenders just 182.1 yards per game through the air.

Last week, in the Blue Devils’ 19-16 win at Virginia, the Cavaliers impressively managed to hold Sheppard to 55 yards and a score on the ground, including 11 yards receiving on two catches.

But it came at the cost of giving up a designed, trick-play touchdown that saw Sheppard throw a touchdown — yup, you heard that right — as all of the defense’s attention went to him in the backfield, allowing a Duke receiver to escape downfield.

The success that came Virginia's way in terms of halting Sheppard to his fewest yards all season derived heavily from throwing an imbalance of pressure at the line of scrimmage and dropping back fewer players in coverage, which leaves open the possibility of giving up a chunk play through the air.

Yet it proved to work, as the Cavaliers held the Blue Devils to their second-fewest points total of the year, so BC might actually want to replicate some of what Virginia put on tape.