Freeport’s Deion McShane is back on the hunt for some pro football accolades.
The 26-year-old former Freeport and University of Northern Iowa speedster and star is eight games into his second season in the Indoor Football League, and he’s having one of his best seasons since his college and high school days.
“I don’t ever remember having nine touchdowns just halfway through the season, anywhere I went,” McShane said this week while preparing for the San Antonio Gunslingers’ ninth game of the season this Friday in Green Bay. “I’m playing good, and I’m getting opportunities… They got to stop me now.”
McShane was a track and football star at Freeport. He won three state championships and finished second at state three times in the hurdles, claiming the IHSA all-class state record in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 2017. He went on to run track and play football at Northern Iowa, and finished off his five-year UNI career with 149 receptions for 1,931 yards and 7 TDs.
Since a 2023 tryout with the NFL’s New York Giants didn’t turn into a contract, he has played for the Iowa Barnstormers and the Quad City Steamwheelers of the IFL. But this is definitely his best season.
McShane headed into Friday’s game third in the league at 13.8 yards per catch, 14th in the IFL at 45.3 receiving yards per game, and 16th with nine touchdowns. He has seven receiving TDs, one kickoff return for a touchdown, and one rushing TD.
“Last year I only played like half the season, but this year, I’m getting it going,” McShane said. “Our offense is there; we just need to stay healthy and keep it going.”
His team was 3-5 at the midway point, but he liked the way they were playing lately. The Gunslingers will also travel to the Iowa Barnstormers in Des Moines, Iowa, for the regular-season finale on July 24.
Deion’s brothers, Vance and Steve McShane, are trying to get back into shape for more playing time as well, according to Deion. Steve, who starred on both the football and baseball teams at Western Illinois, had a spot in the 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers minicamp, but didn’t make the final cut. He played for the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks in 2019, with the Leipzig (Germany) Kings in the German Football League in 2022, and then for the Danube Dragons, the three-time Austrian Football League champions, during the 2024 season.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Freeport star Deion McShane is going off in the Indoor Football League
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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