Ra’shad Onezime is thankful he didn’t grow up playing flag football.
“I kind of laugh at how I never got the chance to play flag football,” Onezime said. “It was straight to tackle football so I think that helped me be more prepared down the line.”
That lack of flag football experience has paid off in a big way for the Carencro High senior defensive back. Onezime is coming off his best season as a Golden Bear when he was selected as District 4-4A Defensive MVP and earned all-state honors.
Onezime may not have played flag football but that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t exposed to the game at an early age.
Onezime spent many an afternoon playing one-on-one with his older brother in the front yard. That all changed one Christmas morning when his father bought he and his older brother football pads.
“My dad bought us some football pads so we started playing in the backyard,” Onezime said. “And our father said ‘If this year y’all want to play, I’ll register y’all.’”
Once he got to the high school level, it was the help from the Carencro veteran players like Kordell Williams and Rashaad Harding that helped Onezime become a defensive presence.
“Those players helped me and they told me to pick my head up on all the mistakes I made,” Onezime said. “Them telling me that and learning not to be in my feelings about it helped me down the road.”
Now, in his final season with Carencro, Onezime is the leader on the defense and watching film has played a significant role in obtaining that respected title.
“Watching a lot of film, watching the seniors make mistakes,” Onezime said. “You’re going to make mistakes but it’s about not making the same mistakes. It’s working hard and taking time out of the day to watch a lot of film. I talk to other DBs to make sure that they know it.”
The Golden Bears are off to a 4-1 start to the 2019 season with the defense allowing 25.5 points per game. The team has almost matched its win total from a year ago when they won just five games.
Onezime said the team’s fourth-quarter chant has become a factor in their ability to close out games this season.
“We have a chant for the fourth quarter to boost us up,” Onezime said. “That’s something that we started that’s really helped us.”
As a senior, Onezime is focused on the season at hand but does hope to continue playing the game he learned in his backyard.
“I take it one day at a time and I’ll look forward to playing college football,” Onezime said. “Hopefully I get to play at the next level. I’m not picky. I’ll play at any division. Starting from whatever it is, I just have to play hard.”