Shakeel Rashad Named ACC Linebacker of the Week

What's this? A UNC defensive player winning an ACC weekly award? Gene Chizik is a genius!

LINEBACKER – Shakeel Rashad, North Carolina, Sr., OLB, 6-2, 235, Jacksonville, Fla.

Rashad forced a fumble, intercepted a pass, broke up another and had two tackles – including a 10-yard tackle for loss – in North Carolina's 53-14 win over North Carolina A&T.  In the first quarter, Rashad forced a fumble that was scooped up by teammate Sam Smiley and returned 52 yards to set up a UNC score. On the next NC A&T possession, Rashad picked off a pass to stop a promising Aggies’ drive.

If you want to nitpick, Rashad should have opted to simply knock the pass down instead of intercept it. It was fourth down so an incomplete pass would have resulted in a net gain of 14 yards over where UNC got the ball after the INT. That being said, you really can't knock a player for snagging the pick.

Rashad also gets bonus points for this quote on Saturday.

People don’t realize footballs aren’t circles, so when they’re rolling it’s just kind of a guessing game where it’s gonna go. You’ve got to bend in the right places and scoop it up.