How Sterling Shepard Became the 'Hype Man' for the New York Giants: 'It's Just So Natural'

Sterling Shepard brings the hype all the time — not just at halftime!

The New York Giants wide receiver exclusively opens up to OK! about how he became the "hype man" for his teammates while promoting the creation of his "Holiday Hype Machine" in collaboration with La Quinta by Wyndham.

While Shepard has been pretty positive his whole life, the athlete's uplifting spirit shined when he was unfortunately sidelined for the majority of last season after tearing his ACL during the third week of games.

"It's hard to go down and hype up the defense because you're getting ready on offense to go out on the field. So me being hurt, I was able to go to both sides of the ball. I was constantly screaming because I couldn't do anything else," he explains, adding that cheering was his only way to contribute to his team in the midst of recovering from one of football's most dreaded injuries.

The 30-year-old continues: "So I just thought to myself, the best best thing I can do is help my guys out and get them ready to play — and I got a lot of great feedback from it. They kind of just marked me as the hype man."

While many thought Shepard's career was over on September 26, 2022, when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament while running a routine pass pattern against the Dallas Cowboys, that thought never crossed the driven athlete's mind.

"I'm very strong mentally so I never let that thought creep into my head. I'm big on what you say and what you think," he admits, noting, "I always thought positive about it. I've seen a lot of guys come back from that injury. It's not as bad as it was back in the day where guys were not coming back from it. [We have] pretty good surgeons now. So I relied on that and God. I knew I was gonna come back strong."

As for how he stays so upbeat and optimistic, Shepard says, "It's just so natural."

"Even the times that I do get upset about the season, when Sunday creeps back around, I'm right back at it. You have to understand the importance of not letting people get too down. Because if you get too down, then you're going to go down that slope of just feeling sorry for yourself," Shepard expresses.

Regardless of his team's record or what the recording stat may be, Shepard adds: "I try to wake up every morning and have a smile on my face and try to give that to others too. It gets frustrating at times, but like I said, that's just who I am, so I'm always gonna be me."

When Shepard isn't hyping up his teammates on the football field, he is likely at home being the biggest supporter of his two kids — Cali Clay, 5, and Cassie Snow, 3 — whom he shares with his ex-wife, supermodel Chanel Iman.

One of the toughest parts about being a professional athlete is finding the balance between work and family, especially since football season occurs simultaneously with the holidays.

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"It's super tough because you never know if you're going to be playing on Thanksgiving that year, and I'm huge with my family. I'm big on family, so that can be tough from time to time. I really understand the importance of this time and how hectic it can be," the girl dad details.

"That's the reason why I teamed up with La Quinta," Shepard shares. "So that I could maybe hype some people up to get through the holiday season. I have kids and also have family members that come in for Christmas, so it, it was cool teaming up with them to do this."

"I think it's cool because you're actually able to get a personalized video for whatever somebody's going through. If you wanna send it to them, send it to a friend or a family member to get them hyped. It's not just scrolling on a website and reading some of the things that they have. I've never been on a site where you could get a video of an athlete or a celebrity telling you to get hyped up — I'm telling you, I am hyped up," the NFL star comedically confesses.

Luckily, Shepard's supportive family stays flexible around his schedule.

"Depending on what day we're gonna play — it'll be a Thursday game or a Sunday game — if we have to do Thanksgiving a little bit earlier or Christmas a little bit earlier in the week, we'll knock that out. But my girls are pretty easy," Shepard explains.

"They love getting little toys. It's easy gifts right now. I've heard when they get older it's gonna be some other stuff," he says with a laugh. "They love making little arts and crafts and stuff during that time. For Halloween we did pumpkin carving and stuff like that. They loved that. They love doing hands-on stuff, so that's easy to make it pretty special for them."

To receive a Holiday Hype Machine video from Shepard, head to laquinta.com/hype through the end of the year.