'Shak' Rashad brings flavor to Tar Heels

Quick. Pay attention. We don’t have that long with him.

He’s a college football player, Shakeel Rashad , a 6-foot-2, 245-pound bandit with practice and class and workouts and film. He always has to be at the next place, because wasted time means wasted opportunity to get better.

Right now — a muggy Thursday after UNC’s afternoon practice, when beads of sweat dot his shirtless frame — hundreds of players across the country are surely talking to the media, repeating those stock phrases that have all but eliminated personality.

Yes, that’s the easy way to typify him: a Division I athlete, another 20-year-old assigned the thankless task of being a full-time student and a full-time moneymaker for the university.

But that’d be unfair. Rashad’s something more. Always has been. So let’s cherish him before he has to go.

Here we go...

The question: “Favorite color?”

“Salmon,” he says, deep-voiced and well-spoken. “People will call it pink. Maybe I’m color blind, maybe I’m not, but I call it salmon.”

Car?

“Is it (New York Knicks guard) J.R. Smith that has an armored truck? I love that.”

Hobby?

“Binge-watching Netflix.”

TV show?

“That’s tough. I’m in the middle of ‘One Tree Hill’ right now. It’s incredible. I’m about to finish the last season. But all-time TV show? One Tree Hill’s making its way up there, but ‘24’ probably. I’ve watched 24 like eight times through now.”

New Year’s resolution?

“Eat vegetables at least twice a week.”

Dream job?

“Is this assuming I have the abilities to do whatever I want?”

Yes.

“Professional singer.”

Biggest pet peeve?

“Prime numbers.”

Why do you wear No. 42 ?

“(Hitchhiker’s) Guide to the Galaxy: ‘What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?’ And if you just google that — ‘What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?’ — No. 42 pops up.”

Life dream?

“Hit the lotto straight out of college, and then I’d live on a beach somewhere and fish for my own food.”

Nickname?

“I have a lot of nicknames. I’m the only one that calls myself all of them.”

He laughs.

“There’s St. Shaktrick, Shakinabox, Shakadilly, Shaktastic, Shakapotamus, Shaktus...”

Here he enlists help.

“Jeff, give me some nicknames!” Rashad shouts to friend and linebacker Jeff Schoettmer.

Schoettmer names a few.

“Shaktus...did I say Shakattack?” Rashad continues. “Umm Shakadocious? You just kind of add anything to Shak and that’s my nickname.”

Who is Shakeel Rashad?

“He’s... that’s tough... He’s Shak. Shakeel Rashad is ‘insert nicknames here.’ That’s what I’m gonna go with. That’s all I am.”

He sold himself short.

He was born in Charleston, S.C., and shaped by Jacksonville, Fla., where he wakeboarded and played sports.

In middle school he noticed that he was bigger than his classmates. In high school he had no eyebrows for two weeks.

“We were just hanging out one night and we just, ah, I don’t know, I just woke up the next morning with no eyebrows,” Rashad explains. “And apparently he had put Nair on ’em in my sleep.

Episcopal High in Jacksonville, Rashad says, had 800 students across six grades. Its football team had 19 to 25 players. Rashad, 82 tackles and eight sacks as a junior, was one of its best.

He picked UNC because of its colors and “sick uniforms.” He enrolled early in January 2012. He moved in on a Friday. He took a final tour on Saturday. He went to bed early on Sunday, because he was excited about starting college football.

He tore his meniscus the following morning in the first workout.

He rehabbed and returned for his freshman season: 18 tackles, a forced fumble and an interception in 11 games.  He was excited for a strong sophomore season.

He re-tore his meniscus on the first day of training camp “running into a bag, something that doesn’t even hit back.” He rehabbed and returned for the last five games, when he had nine tackles and a sack.

Now, he’s back, again.

Coach Larry Fedora says the linebacking corps, of which Rashad is a member, is experienced and motivated. Rashad likes the offense, especially its running backs.

“It’s a trio,” he says. “Actually there’s more than that. What comes after trio? Quad? Quad? Quado?”

Quartet.

“Quartet! Like the Barbershop Quartet. That’s what it is. It’s an incredible quartet.”

Rashad smiles a lot. He laughs even more. He knows what he is: a breath of fresh air in a culture that too often suffocates character.

“I’ve never been good at being serious,” he says. “The fact that I come in and people like embrace the fact that I’m the goofball makes my life a heck of a lot easier.”

Shoot. Rashad has to leave soon. A golf cart of his teammates approaches.

“C’mon Shak, we gotta go!” shouts one of them.

“C’mon Shak!” yells another.

“C’mon Radioshak!”

OK. Last question: How should this story end?

“One of the characters in One Tree Hill, his sign-out is — he’s a newscaster, news reporter — his sign-out is — his name’s Mouth — he’s like: ‘I’m Mouth, and you just heard a mouthful.’ So probably, ‘I’m Shak, and you just heard a mouthful.’”

Then he’s gone.

sports@dailytarheel.com