Hamilcar Rashed Jr., Oregon State Football News: Draft Scout Player News

05/28/20 - OLB Hamilcar Rashed Jr., rSr/2021, Oregon State

Hamilcar Rashed Jr. is like more than 80 percent of Oregon State's football roster, living far away from the Corvallis campus with athletic facilities closed due to the coronavirus outbreak. It matters little to the record-setting senior outside linebacker. Rashed leaves his mother's home in Chandler, Ariz. each morning with a workout mission. Rashed is either in the weight room or running hills near Discovery Park every day but Sunday. Some days, it's a double workout. Whether he's in Corvallis or in the Arizona heat of Chandler, a coronavirus outbreak or not, only one thing matters to Rashed. "Coronavirus probably shifts a lot of people's mindsets," Rashed said. "But me, my mindset is the same. I'm going to wake up every day, whether we have football or no football in the fall, and I'm going to do everything I can to prepare myself for that."

Rashed ended his spectacular junior season in 2019 with a thud, playing the final two games with a heavily-protected broken thumb. Prior to the injury, Rashed was as dominant as any defensive player in the Pac-12, racking up school-record highs for sacks (14) and tackles for loss (22 1/2). Rashed reports the thumb injury is nearly behind him; he only needs the seal of approval from a doctor's visit to proclaim it completely healed. In the meantime, Rashed said he's been able to go full out on workouts the past two months. Rashed, who opted to return for his senior year at OSU rather than take early entry into pro football, says he watched the first day of NFL Draft coverage in April. Rashed's day is likely to come next spring, particularly if he can continue the production of his junior season. - The Oregonian

rSr/2021