He played college football for the West Virginia Mountaineers, earning unanimous All-American honors in 2006.

Slaton also played for the NFL's Miami Dolphins and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Playing for Conwell-Egan Catholic High School in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, Slaton made the varsity football team as a freshman.

He was named captain as a senior, was the most valuable player of the Philadelphia Catholic League, and was a four-year all-conference selection.

He participated in various sprint events, and at one point recorded the sixth-best long jump across all high schools in the United States in 2004.

[3] Slaton received offers to go to college from North Carolina, Maryland and Rutgers, but chose West Virginia, but mainly as a defensive back.

[4][5] Slaton had originally chosen Maryland for his college, but they ended up passing a scholarship on him, instead going with Morgan Green.

After trailing 17–0 at Halftime, Slaton and the Mountaineers rallied from a 24-7 4th Quarter deficit to win the game 46–44 in triple overtime.

After making an onside kick that led to the tying score, the Mountaineers headed into overtime with the Cardinals.

In the final Big East game of the season, Slaton had 86 yards on 28 carries and one touchdown against the South Florida Bulls.

[8] Slaton recorded his second straight 200-yard performance by putting up 203 yards on 33 carries and two touchdowns against instate rival Marshall in the first game of his sophomore season.

Playing only the first two series of the Eastern Washington game, Slaton was still able to get 105 yards on only eight carries and scoring two touchdowns.

Slaton helped the highly ranked Mountaineers to their fourth win of the season by gaining 80 yards on 24 carries against East Carolina.

In the first Big East game of the season, against the Syracuse Orangemen, Slaton carried the ball 20 times for 163 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown run.

On a Friday night game in front of a national audience against the Connecticut Huskies, Slaton carried the ball nineteen times for 128 yards, including a career-high 56-yard touchdown run.

In the final regular season game, in front of a national audience, Slaton helped lead the Mountaineers to a 41-39 triple overtime victory against Rutgers.

In the season, Slaton and quarterback Pat White combined for 2,963 yards and 34 rushing touchdowns.

[9] In the second week of the season, Slaton had 146 yards on 24 carries and touchdown runs of 1-yard and 18-yards while the Mountaineers beat Marshall 48–23 in front of the largest crowd ever at Joan C. Edwards Stadium, in Huntington, West Virginia.

The following game against Mississippi State, which was homecoming for the Mountaineers, Slaton rushed for 127 yards on 23 carries for one touchdown in the 38–13 win.

The next week however, the #2 Mountaineers fell to 5–7 Pitt in the Backyard Brawl 13–9 to end their National Championship hopes.

Slaton and quarterback Patrick White combined for 43 total touchdowns, more than 67 Division I-A teams that season.

[26] Slaton reported meeting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans at the NFL Combine.

[28] Slaton also impressed many scouts with his receiving abilities, highlighted with a one-handed grab behind him on a "go route".

[35] Following the performance, head coach Gary Kubiak named Slaton the starting running back.

However, Slaton rebounded in the following loss to the Colts, in which he posted career-high numbers - finishing the game with 14 carries for 156 yards and a touchdown.

Slaton finished his first career Monday Night Football performance with 182 total yards of offense.

In the final week of the season, Slaton's Texans were pitted against the Chicago Bears who had a talented rookie running back of their own in Matt Forte.

He ended his rookie season with 1,282 rushing yards, the most among rookie running backs and sixth in the NFL, behind only Adrian Peterson of the Vikings, Michael Turner of the Atlanta Falcons, DeAngelo Williams of the Carolina Panthers, Clinton Portis of the Washington Redskins, and Thomas Jones of the New York Jets.

[43] However, Slaton lost the short-yardage and goal-line situational carries to backup Chris Brown after the preseason by choice of Gary Kubiak.

[58] After retiring from football, Slaton enrolled in culinary school where he worked for Houston chef, Chris Shepherd, at his restaurant, Underbelly(which is now closed).