Rashawn Slater (born March 26, 1999) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

offensive tackle for the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played college football at Northwestern and was drafted by the Chargers in the first round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 202 ...

Early life and high school

Slater grew up in

Sugar Land, Texas Sugar Land is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a populous suburban municipality centered around ...

and attended Fort Settlement Middle School and

Clements High School William P. Clements High School, more commonly known as Clements High School, is a public high school in First Colony and in Sugar Land within the U.S. state of Texas that is named after former Texas governor Bill Clements, and is a part of the ...

. He was named first team All-District as a junior and senior, when he was also named second team All-Greater Houston. Slater was rated a three star recruit and committed to play college football at Northwestern over offers from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

and

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

College career

As a true freshman, Slater started 12 games at right tackle and was named

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

All-Freshman Team. He was rated the best freshman offensive lineman in the nation by

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

. As a sophomore, Slater was named to the third team All-Big Ten by the league's coaches after starting all 14 of Northwestern's games. Slater was named honorable mention All-Big Ten after allowing zero sacks in 11 starts as a junior. Entering his senior year, Slater was named a preseason All-American, preseason All-Big Ten and to the Outland Trophy watchlist. Following the early announcement that Big Ten would postpone their 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Slater announced that he would be preparing for the

. He remained enrolled at Northwestern and graduated with a degree in communications in December 2020.

Professional career

Slater was selected by the

in the first round (13th overall) of the

. He signed his four-year rookie contract on July 27, 2021. As a rookie, Slater was named the Chargers starting left tackle and was named to his first Pro Bowl as a starter. Against the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

in Week 3 of the 2022 season, Slater ruptured his biceps tendon, which ended his season.

Personal life

Slater is the son of former NBA player

Reggie Slater Reginald Dwayne Slater (born August 27, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player born in Houston, Texas. He played the power forward (basketball), power forward position and played college basketball at the University of Wyoming ...

. His older brother, RJ, was an offensive lineman for the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and U ...

from 2014-2017. He is married to Stassney Nicole Brown.

References

External links

Los Angeles Chargers bioNorthwestern Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Rashawn Living people American football offensive tackles Players of American football from Texas Sportspeople from the Houston metropolitan area Northwestern Wildcats football players People from Sugar Land, Texas 1999 births Los Angeles Chargers players African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople American Conference Pro Bowl players