Rashad Raymond

By Hayden Shapiro

“I scored the game-winning touchdown, yeah, I was seven years old, but that emotion, that feeling – it was one I wanted to keep having,” said Rashad Raymond, a running back at The College of William and Mary, on when he knew he wanted to pursue football long-term.

Raymond’s football journey started at a young age, and it has taken him to three different locations over his collegiate career. His first four years playing college football took place at VMI (Virginia Military Institute), where he ran for over 1,300 yards and scored four touchdowns. After a stint in Tennessee at UT Martin, where Raymond would use his redshirt year, he found a new home in Virginia at William and Mary.

The 5-foot-11 bruiser prides himself on something a lot of backs lack: patience.

“If you keep running the ball, you might get three, four yards,” said Raymond on his poised running style. “But at some point, something is going to open up, so I always want to stay level-headed, whether it’s a big run or chipping away at the defense.”

The poise and patience jump off the screen when watching Raymond play, too. He lets his blockers do their job so he can do his, something we see out of the truly elite backs at every level of the game. It’s not always about the home-run play, but looking for lanes and doing your job, a long run is bound to happen; Raymond gets that, and it’s clear when you watch him with the pigskin.

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“From my freshman year to now, the game has really slowed down for me,” said Raymond. “At first, I was kind of just running fast, not really reading the play. Now, I know the game so well, I know where my blocks are coming from, and I know when to hit the hole; again, that’s why I chose the word ‘poised’ to explain my game.”

In William and Mary’s overtime thriller against Campbell, a game that saw the Tribe come back from being down 11 with under seven minutes to play, Raymond put his skills on full display. He rushed for 21 yards on the Tribe’s final two drives and brought his squad within three with 1:51 remaining.

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The contest was not over yet, though. William and Mary were still down by three, and they needed to march down the field in under two minutes. This meant no running and a lot of pass-protection reps for Raymond, and he had a key block against a blitzing linebacker that allowed the drive to continue.

The Tribe went on to win the game 30-27, keeping their season alive.

Raymond will be in Naples at the National Scouting Combine on January 5th, and hopes to continue to dazzle with his hard-nosed, yet patient running style.