This weekend will mark a quiet end to Dawud Rasheed's college football career. That's not the way it was supposed to be.
Had things gone according to plan, Saturday would be a time to celebrate the career of a great running back, a back who picked up where Robert Baldwin left off and helped carry the Blue Devils to winning seasons and bowl games.
That was the plan entering the 1995 season. It just never turned out that way.
Rasheed arrived at Duke carrying such accolades as Mr. Football in the state of Alabama and All-America honors coming out of Shades Valley High School in Birmingham. His senior year, he ran for over 1,800 yards.
After Saturday's game against North Carolina, Rasheed's Duke career will be over without all of the hype and expectations with which it began. The starting fullback was Duke's second leading rusher in '97 but has carried the ball just eight times and caught one pass this season; those aren't the kinds of numbers Rasheed or anyone else would have expected a few short years ago.
"When I came in I wanted to be a playmaker," Rasheed said. "My role changed to more of a backup role, and maybe springing a block where someone else can make a big play. Of course I wanted to carry the ball and do all of those things, but I'm going to do whatever I need to do.
"It's a little disappointing. Everybody has a dream about what they're going to do as a player. When you don't do exactly what you thought you'd do, sometimes it's disappointing. But some guys can cope with it and never really look back, and that's what I've tried to do. My role changed and I tried to really focus on that. It's disappointing but I'm happy with what I've done."
What Rasheed has done this year is help lead the team. In the preseason, he talked about still wanting to get six to eight carries a game, but that became impossible once the Blue Devils started primarily utilizing a one-back set. The 5-foot-11, 225-pounder became a blocking back and special teams player.
Instead of letting his last season slide away, Rasheed accepted his role.
"If I can block and help other guys score touchdowns, then that's what I need to do," he said. "You want to be the guy that scores touchdowns, but you can't really get upset about that. You have to take things with a grain of salt and really just try and do your best with whatever they tell you to do.
"I really just tried to keep the team in mind and do whatever I could to help the team for a winning season."
That's not just idle talk. Rasheed's efforts have not gone unnoticed, and his ability to respond to the situation was recognized.
On Sept. 30, coach Fred Goldsmith named Rasheed a permanent team captain for the season. It marked the first time during Goldsmith's coaching career that he named a captain prior to the team's final game of the regular season.
"It's really a role where you work hard and try to set an example," Rasheed said. "I didn't necessarily try to be the team leader, I just went out and worked hard. I guess guys saw that and followed my example. If I did what I did and people followed my example, then I feel good that people really looked to me as a leader."
As a leader, Rasheed knows that this year hasn't gone like he expected it would for Duke. Back in July, he talked about an eight- or nine-win season.
He recognizes the key mental breakdowns over the last two games that have cost the Blue Devils a shot at their second winning season this decade. Rasheed arrived in Durham on the heels of Duke's 8-4 season. Over the past four years heading into this weekend, the Blue Devils have surpassed their '94 win total by just a single game.
"It's disappointing that we didn't win as much over the years as I thought we would," Rasheed said. "But you can't shut down because you didn't accomplish something. As long as you strove hard and gave it everything you had, you can't really get upset. Everybody wants to be a winner, and I still consider us winners for our character.
"You've got to have high expectations. You've got to start every season with those expectations. [Coming into this season] I looked at our guys and I saw the talent, and I really thought we had the chance to be something special. Regardless of what happens, you've got to go out every game believing you can win. Otherwise, you don't have a chance. You can't go in doubting yourself or you'll never be successful."
Rasheed's success at Duke hasn't shown up in the numbers. Though he still hopes to attend the combines and give the NFL a shot next season, Rasheed won't do so as a high-flying running back with stellar accolades.
Instead, when he walks out of Wallace Wade Stadium after the game against North Carolina has ended, Rasheed will step away from a collegiate career that didn't show up in the stats but still had an impact on the Duke program.
"I have matured a lot this year," he said. "Just being able to adjust to the things that happened around me, I guess it just shows how I've developed over the years.
"Right now I just want to focus on this game and finish out the season right."
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