Nathan Shepherd has carried the words with him every step of the way, from J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate secondary school to Simon Fraser University to Fort Hays State to now, as a New York Jet.
They come from his old coach in 2010 with the Ajax-Pickering Dolphins Football Club in Ontario, a man named Jeff Ahlstedt.
“The one main thing I always instilled into my kids, and it’s a tagline that I still use today, ‘If it is to be, it’s up to me.