 Shearer received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where he played for the Texas Longhorns football team from 1974 to 1977.He was a two-time All-Southwestern Conference selection in (1975, 1977), As a senior team captain in 1977, he averaged ten tackles per game, led the Longhorns to a No.1 ranking, and was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American.