Hand was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, fathered by Sharif Hand, who was a junior in high school when Da'Shawn was born. Hand's uncle, Damone Boone, was a Parade All-American running back at West Springfield in Virginia in the mid-1990s. After moving to Woodbridge, Virginia, Hand attended Woodbridge High School, where he was a three-sport athlete in football, wrestling and track. In football, he was an All-State defensive lineman. In his junior year, Hand recorded 110 tackles, 16 sacks, 40 tackles for loss, two pass deflections, four forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries. Woodbridge finished the season 6–5, losing 0–17 to Haymarket Battlefield in the first round of the VHSL playoffs. After his junior year, Hand was named Rivals.com Junior of the Year, an honor that comes along with being rated the No. 1 prospect of one's class entering senior season. Media attention steadily increased, and The Washington Post made Hand the subject of a documentary series named First and 17, which followed him both on and off the field, "giving an inside look at the challenges facing a top recruit juggling school, football and his senior year." In addition to playing football, Hand also excelled in wrestling and track. He was a regional champion in Virginia wrestling. In track & field, he competed primarily as a thrower, but also spend some time as a sprinter during his final year in 2014. At the Runner Store City-County Championships, he earned a second-place finish in the shot put event, recording a career-best throw of 15.81 meters. He placed 11th in the discus at the Gojekian Twilight Classic, notching a top-throw of 35.66 meters. In sprints, he clocked a 12.24-second 100-meter dash time at the 2014 Garfield Meet, where he took 7th. He ran a 4.7-second 40-yard dash and had a 33-inch vertical jump.
Recruiting
Hand was considered the nation's best recruit in the 2014 class by Rivals.com. In 2012, he was the Rivals High School Football Junior of the Year. With over 90 scholarship offers, Hand narrowed down his choice of college destination to three—Alabama, Florida, and Michigan—before the start of his senior season. On November 14, 2013, his eighteenth birthday, he committed to attend the University of Alabama. Eyeing a civil engineering major, Hand cited Alabama's civil engineering program as one of the key reasons he chose the Crimson Tide.
College career
Hand attended Alabama from 2014–2017 under head coachNick Saban. In his true freshman year at Alabama, Hand was a regular in the Crimson Tide defensive line rotation and played in nine games at defensive end. He started his college career with one solo tackle against West Virginia. Hand finished with seven tackles on the year, including four solo stops and two sacks. Hand started nine of the 11 games he played in 2017, missing time with a minor knee injury. He had 27 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and three sacks in the season.
Collegiate statistics
Professional career
Hand was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft. He made his professional debut in the Lions' season opener against the New York Jets. In Week 4, against the Dallas Cowboys, he recorded his first professional sack. In the following game, he was able to record another sack in the victory against the Green Bay Packers. He was placed on injured reserve on December 18, 2018. The 2019 season was an injury riddled sophomore season for Hand. He suffered an elbow injury early in training camp and missed the first six weeks of the regular season. He returned for two weeks, then suffered an ankle injury in Week 9 and missed the next three games. He returned in Week 13, but suffered a setback with the ankle injury and was placed on injured reserve on December 12, 2019.
