#23

Rayshard Ashby

Senior linebacker for Virginia Tech. 2020: 69 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 4 sacks.

LB · Virginia Tech · Sr. · #23

5′10″ · 245 lb · Chesterfield, VA

Virginia Tech 2020 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

ILB recruit

No. 769 nationally · Signed with Virginia Tech

Statement game13 tackles · 3 TFLat Notre Dame (FBS) · L 20-21

Top 1% tackles game since 2021.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 linebacker for Virginia Tech. 2020: 69 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 4 sacks.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Virginia Tech in 2017.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Three seasons at Virginia Tech, 293 tackles — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

2017

Signed with Virginia Tech3-star out of L.C. Bird

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#769 national

CFB

College

Virginia Tech

2018–2020

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2018–2020

1 coach

2018–2020

Justin Fuente

Virginia Tech

Played his entire career under Justin Fuente.

2020 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

3 seasons under Justin Fuente — 19-18 over that span.

2018Virginia Tech6-7HC: Justin Fuente · Run-leaning

2019Virginia Tech8-5HC: Justin Fuente · Run-heavy

2020Virginia Tech5-6HC: Justin Fuente · Run-heavy

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (98th percentile). Strength: tackles (95th percentile). Concern: passes defended (21st percentile).

Box-score production (6)

QB hurries#31 / 2211 · 98th pct

Tackles#108 / 2211 · 95th pct

Sacks#106 / 2211 · 94th pct

4.0

Solo tackles#130 / 2211 · 94th pct

Tackles for loss#147 / 2211 · 93rd pct

7.5

Passes defended#1276 / 2211 · 21st pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2020 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home6g	5.7	0.6	0.3	0.0
Road5g	7.0	0.8	0.4	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-74g	6.0	0.9	0.5	0.0
Weeks 8+7g	6.4	0.6	0.3	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

James Franklin

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2020

Part-time starter

Splitting first-team reps — starts some weeks, rotates others.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career stats

Season	Team
2020	Virginia Tech	69	38	7.5	4.0	--	--	--
2019	Virginia Tech	119	60	17.0	5.0	1	--	--
2018	Virginia Tech	105	57	9.5	1.0	2	--	--
Career		293	155	34.0	10.0	3	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 9 · 2020

W 42–35

at Louisville

5 TOT · 3 SOLO

Edged out Louisville on the road in a shootout.

With H. Hooker — 183 yds · 0 TD · 0 INT · 68 rush yds (19 car) · 3 TD · T. Robinson — 28 rush yds (1 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week