Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 12 No. 2 | October 2019

inside.hokiesports.com 35 P eople who live busy lives—or in other words, basically everyone—often find a place of solace to get out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the daily grind. Such places could be a quiet room in a home, a library, a church, or a municipal park. Some go hiking, while others fish, listening to the soothing sounds of water tumbling over rocks and caring not at all if they get a nibble on the end of their line. Athletic types find comfort on the field, on the court or in the gym, knowing that the combination of aching muscles and sweat distracts them from their worries and problems. Rayshard Ashby certainly has his go-to spot, though it comes in the mostly unlikely of places. At the corner of 1st Street and Broad Street in downtown Richmond sits a barbershop on the bottom floor of a beautiful old building. Ashby often went to McCormick’s Barbershop as a kid to get a haircut from a person whom he knows well—his father, Robert—and his trips there usually lasted for hours, well after he had received a trim. Even today, Virginia Tech’s starting mike linebacker makes the frequent visit on rare trips home. “I was always in the barbershop,” Ashby said. “I always felt like it was a safe place, and you just go in there and talk. It was always funny when the guys in there would be arguing about sports and stuff. Everybody has their own opinion, and everybody’s yelling. It’s just funny. It’s amazing. Everybody’s cool, but you can see there’s a different side that comes out when they’re in the barbershop arguing. “I’d stay the whole day even after I’d get my haircut, just to be around them because it was fun to me. I liked to be there. So yeah, I guess I was going there just to hang out.” Ashby mostly hangs out in Blacksburg these days, splitting time between Virginia Tech’s athletics facilities and the university’s classrooms. There is little time for solitude for a Division I football player, particularly one with the skill set and leadership qualities of Ashby. He lifts, runs, participates in conditioning, watches film and goes to practices, while also attending classes and doing the work required ultimately to receive a degree in consumer studies. Not that the junior from Chesterfield, Virginia—just across the James River from McCormick’s —ever complains. He loves playing football and loves doing it for Virginia Tech. He has loved the game since his dad got him involved in it as a 4-year-old, and he appreciates the opportunity to extend his playing days for as long as possible. His career started in the backyard at the family’s home, with Robert Ashby tossing his son a football. Robert tossed balls from other sports, too, refusing to discriminate against those sports, but he loved football, and Rayshard found himself gravitating toward football anyway. “He loves football,” Rayshard agreed. “I think, when I was younger, he was always putting some type of football in my hand, or a basketball. I don’t know what it was, but football was the one I took a liking to the most. I played basketball and baseball, but I always knew football was going to be my sport. “He used to take me out in the backyard and throw the ball to me. He’d yell at me every time I dropped it or didn’t run hard enough, or things like that. He always coached me and trained me. He coached me in Little League.” Interestingly, Ashby rarely had the ball in his hands during his Little League playing days. A league weight limit relegated the burly young man to offensive guard—an almost laughable thought these days. That mattered little to him because he found his true love on defense—playing linebacker. Ashby made friends all over Richmond because he played in nearly every league possible. He played in Chesterfield, and he also participated in leagues in Henrico on the other side of the river. In addition, he used to go with his dad to watch high school games in the area, cementing his love for the sport. “I kind of got the best of both worlds,” Ashby said. “I knew people from everywhere. I knew everybody, kind of. All of my family is from there, so it’s amazing. Just the football history and the competition, I used to love watching high school games and Little League games—they were amazing.” His dad’s instructions and training tips certainly paid off. Halfway through his freshman year at L.C. Bird High, Ashby found himself in the starting lineup after one of the team’s starting linebackers suffered an injury. He never exited the field after that, becoming one of the city’s best linebackers. He helped L.C. Bird to state championships in 2013 and 2014. As a junior in 2015, he established himself as one of the best linebackers in the state, racking up 141 tackles on his way to becoming the region’s defensive player of the year. College recruiters already had been pursuing him, and in March I felt that this was where I wanted to be and needed to be. Rayshard Ashby on his decision to come to Virginia Tech “ ” Continued on page 36 football spotlight rayshard ashby

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