Ace of all trades

I remember seeing a highlight of one of his touchdowns back in Week 2, and I saved a photo of him scoring another TD in Week 5 (first photo below on left); but it wasn't until a week after that, after reading an article from USA Today, that I started to take any notice of Laviska Shenault. With part of the article's headline reading "... football player chose his dreadlocks over hoops ...", I couldn't help but notice. That's the kind of headline I like to see.

Actually though, I hate it when an athlete is put in a position like that: cut off your dreadlocks, or else. I guess now, in this day and age of "anything goes" hairstyles for athletes, it happens much less often. But back when he was in high school in Texas a few years ago, it happened to Shenault. The school's basketball coach had a team rule that prohibited players from having their hair in dreads. And so Laviska, with his dreads too important to him to cut off, took the "or else" option, saying goodbye to basketball instead of his locks. And because he did, basketball's loss turned into football's gain, specifically the Colorado Buffaloes' gain.

There's no telling now how good a basketball player Shenault would have been; but after what has happened in the first half of the 2018 college football season, it's hard to imagine him doing any better in basketball than he's done in football. You ask, what has he done? Well, if you don't know, the last part of the article headline goes ".... leads nation in receiving." Actually Shenault's 780 yards receiving (on 60 receptions) through Week 7 are third best in the FBS; but that's only because the players ranked above him have played more games than he has. If you go by yards per game, Laviska's average of 130 per game is #1 by a wide margin. If he maintains his current pace, he'll finish the regular season with 120 catches for 1,560 yards - marks that would shatter the current Colorado records - and 12 TD catches, would would tie the school record. And if the Buffaloes (currently 5-1 overall, 2-1 in the Pac-12 South), make it to the Pac-12 championship game, he could be pushing the 2,000-yard mark by season's end.

Shenault, gaining some of his 216 total yards vs. Colorado State in the season opener in photo on the right, was highly recruited in high school and could have signed with programs more successful than Colorado. But he wanted to make his mark "somewhere that wasn't as big already." Colorado certainly checks that box. In recapping their 5-7 season in 2017 the Athlon 2018 preview magazine says the Buffs (after a rare winning season in 2016) "settled into their familiar spot at the bottom of the division." Familiar as in 6 last place finishes in the Pac-12 South in the 7 seasons they've been in the conference. It remains to be seen if they can put last place in their rear view mirror this season; but if they don't, Shenault at least is determined to make sure it won't be the fault of the CU offense.

Blessed with great speed for someone who weighs 220 pounds, Shenault has been a versatile threat for the CU offense to say the least. After not playing much as a freshman last year, he moved into the starting lineup this season and has become a nightmare for opposing defenses. Lining up not only as a WR but also at TE, and in the backfield at RB and QB, he has filled a jack-of-all-trades role. But since he has excelled at all of those positions, the team's starting QB gave him an upgrade, dubbing him an "ace of all trades". Just last week against USC (before I fell asleep and missed the 2nd half of the telecast) I saw him line up as the QB, take the shotgun snap, and race 49 yards to the house (photo above on left) for the first points of the game and his team-leading 5th rushing TD of the season. No doubt there were some NFL scouts watching too. Come this time next year Laviska likely will be facing a more difficult choice than the one he made to keep his dreads, that being whether or not he should enter the NFL Draft a year early.

Although I've already mentioned a few things from the Oct. 4 USA Today article, I didn't spoil the entire article. So if you haven't already seen it, you can read it on this link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2018/10/04/pac-12-colorado-wr-leads-nation-receiving-dreadlocks/1507666002/

Now, about that name .....
I've never before seen, heard of, or known of anyone with the name Laviska. For me the first thing that would come to mind if I saw a name like that would be Eastern European female instead of African-American male. Shenault got the name because it's the same as his father's. He's Laviska Jr. (Where his father got the name is not something I'm going to spend time on. You're on your own if you're curious and need to know). And it's his father who is the reason why Laviska's dreads are so important to him. After his dad died (in a tragic accident) when he was 10 years old, Jr. decided to start growing dreads as kind of a memorial (like Larry Fitzgerald did when his mother died). That being the case, he's not trying to let anybody ever tell him he has to cut his hair. ESPN recently did a feature on Laviska's story, and I recommend you click on this link to view the short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2SiIXlesKc

If you want to see Shenault in action, here are some of his highlights. The first link is to the Week 5 game vs. Arizona State (photo above on right), in which he had 140 total yards and scored all 4 CU TD. And below that is the link to the Week 2 game at Nebraska, in which he had he 10 catches for 177 yards, including the game-winning 40-yarder (photo on left) with 1:06 to play in the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1reJqQ72i3A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3FtAFVefIE

With Colorado being in the Pac-12, not all of their games are available in my area (Directv still isn't carrying the Pac-12 Network). But the Buffs show up on ESPN, FS1, and ABC every now and then, so you still should have the chance to see Laviska several more times this season, especially if the Buffs prove to be the real deal and stay in the Pac-12 South race. Don't miss him!