'08 OH RB Darius Ashley (Louisville signee)

[OmahaBeef]

The Enquirer - Ohio prep insider

It could have been worse, Darius Ashley figures. Much worse.
Ashley, St. Xavier's all-state senior running back, missed nearly a month of football action before returning Friday night against Indianapolis Chatard. Ashley rushed 13 times for 103 yards and two touchdowns as St. X (5-0) beat Chatard 30-0. ...



Ashley was feeling a bit sorry for himself a few weeks ago. He sprained an ankle on his second carry of the season, against Winton Woods Aug. 25. He then missed three straight games, but the Bombers, rated No. 2 nationally by USA Today, kept winning. ...

"There are guys dealing with things a lot more important than football," Ashley said. "For instance, a player on our team, Eric Berning, has had brain surgery. You look at things like that, and you almost feel bad complaining about a hurt ankle." ...

"Darius gets it," Specht said. "If we can do anything for these kids, we try to tell them about what's really important in life. You never know what life will throw at you."
This, of course, was going to be Ashley's third consecutive monster year. As a sophomore in 2005, he helped lead the Bombers to the Division I state title with 1,633 yards rushing and 28 touchdowns. As a junior, he was first-team all-state with 1,450 yards rushing and 18 TDs.
Now, the postseason honors might not come as easily. Having essentially missed four games, Ashley's stats might not jump off the page as much.
Ashley said the all-this and all-that honors mean little.
"I don't play for the awards," he said. "I play because I like playing football and I love the guys I play with. Our team kept winning without me, and that's the most important thing."

Whoever gets Darius is getting an outstanding human being as well as a great football player.

 

[Buckskin86]

Profile: Darius Ashley
By: Matt Remsberg 9/28/07

With the clock ticking toward the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter in the 2005 Division I state championship game, Darius Ashley left the St. Xavier (Cincinnati, Ohio) huddle thinking end zone. Ahead by two touchdowns at the time, another score would have sealed the Bombers' first-ever state championship and put a perfect cap on Ashley's dream season.

Ashley, then a sophomore, had already rushed 19 times on the day for 128 yards and a touchdown. He had already eclipsed 1,600 rushing yards on the season to go with 28 scores. So with the ball resting on the Massillon Washington 18-yard line, a score was hardly out of the question.

outside looking to make something out of nothing -- a technique he had turned into an art form since taking over as the starting running back the third week of the season. Except this time, Ashley's creativity didn't pay off. Before he could even get back to the line of scrimmage, the pigskin was knocked loose.

Ashley's first instinct was to find the ball. When he spotted it cradled in the arm of a Massillon defender racing toward the end zone with no one to stop him, his next instinct was to hide.

"I just wanted to lay on the field and never get up," says Ashley, now a 5-foot-9, 190-pound senior at St. X, which entered this season ranked No. 1 in the preseason RISE National Football Top 25.

He'd been the unlikely king of Ohio high school football for most of his sophomore season, but with the Bombers' lead suddenly sliced to seven, Ashley felt more like the court jester.

RiseMag.com > News > Top Stories

 

[wadc45]

The Enquirer - Bombers able to run table

St. Xavier running back Darius Ashley took the handoff and was gone, an 89-yard touchdown sprint that spurred the Bombers to a 28-14 win over Moeller on Friday night.

The third-quarter touchdown run, which gave St. X a 21-14 lead and big momentum after Moeller had just tied the score, was vintage Ashley. The senior said he is back to full 100 percent strength after an early-season ankle sprain sidelined him nearly a month, and he said he will make his college choice (Louisville or Virginia) very soon.

Ashley - who rushed 23 times for 205 yards Friday - has helped the state and area No. 1-ranked Bombers to their third 10-0 regular season in four years.

Continued...

St. Xavier running back Darius Ashley (8) breaks a tackle by Benjamin Scheider (36) of Moeller.

 

[BGriffBuckeye]

Rivals$
10/29

Committed to Louisville.

 

[TGfan06]

Rivals$
10/29

Committed to Louisville.

Congrats to Darius! Got to see him his sophamore year and was blown away. Louisville is getting a good one here.

 

[starBUCKS]

Rivals$
10/29

Committed to Louisville.

Congrats on one hand.... on the other this was a potential pendelum swing with Scruggs according to X.

 

[osugrad21]

Demling

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
U of L lands huge football commitment

There's finally something to smile about for the University of Louisville football program.

The Cardinals have landed a huge verbal commitment from one of the top running backs in the Midwest - Cincinnati St. Xavier's Darius Ashley.

The 5-foot-9, 195-pound Ashley, who leads the rushing attack for the nation's No. 2 team, picked the Cardinals over Virginia. Ashley missed several games with an ankle injury, but still has 822 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Bombers.

Ashley's high game of this season was 205 yards against rival Moeller.

"I had a chance to talk with my family about it tonight and I guess the more we talked the more I realized that having my family come and see me play was real important to me," Ashley told Cardinalsports.com late Monday night.

 

[ol104]

Could the BPRT give some of their opinions on Darius? Was size a major concern with his running style, speed? Did Devoe's commitment end any chance at an OSU offer? Was there ever a chance of an offer, etc.?

 

[emu]

Could the BPRT give some of their opinions on Darius? Was size a major concern with his running style, speed? Did Devoe's commitment end any chance at an OSU offer? Was there ever a chance of an offer, etc.?

Probably the two biggest factors. The staff set their sites pretty early on Devoe perhaps because of Ashley's size and once Devoe committed, there was virtually no way another true RB would be brought it. Ashley could possibly have gotten an offer had he been a more ATH type player that could potentially play WR or DB ala Lamar Thomas, but Darius is a true running back and running back is his future.

Congrats to Darius! Louisville is a great choice and he's going to thrive!

 

[osugrad21]

Link

Ashley ready already?

Freshman running back Darius Ashley runs a 4.4-second 40-yard dash and helped lead Cincinnati St. Xavier High School to an Ohio state championship last season. But is he ready to make the leap into college ball?
U of L running backs coach Tony Alford said the 5-foot-8 185-pounder is in good shape physically to play now. He also said running backs Brock Bolen, Victor Anderson and Bilal Powell have spent a lot of time helping Ashley learn the offense.
"He's been around all summer and has been studying," Alford said. " ? I throw him in the huddle, and it's not like I have to stand there and make sure he knows what he's doing, because he does."
That being said, he's still a freshman. Alford said it's "way too premature" to say Ashley will play, but he did like the way the rookie practiced.