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Great story about John Carroll's Prince...


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...Strachan.

 

FORT PIERCE — It isn't rare for a boy to dream of playing in the NFL. 

It's certainly more unique for a kid from the Bahamas to grow up dreaming of a sport he'd never played.

Prince Strachan isn't letting that stop him. 

It's the reason why the John Carroll Catholic High School rising senior left his family and home in Freeport in 2019 and wound up in Fort Pierce. It's all so he can play the game he says he was destined to play — even if he never actually put on pads before he arrived in the United States. 

John Carroll Catholic wide receiver Prince Strachan moves the ball upfield against Okeechobee on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020 in Fort Pierce.
 

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“Lonely? I don’t have time to think about that stuff, being lonely,” Strachan said. “There’s a lot of homework. A lot of workouts. I don’t have time to worry about being lonely.”

The Strachan family’s story is all about a relentless pursuit of playing professional football. So, in a very real way, he’s just following the path that has been blazed for him.

His dad, Jerome, left the Bahamas to play college football in the late 1980s but his NFL hopes were extinguished by a knee injury. His older brother, Michael, is a Division II All-American who has a chance of hearing his name called in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Prince Strachan might be fairly new to organized football, but the dream of playing at the highest level has been engrained in him since he was young.

“I was born into it,” he said. “I never had an option. I always just knew I had to do this. I never had a choice.

“But if it was up to me, I would still go.”

Falling in love with football

Jerome Strachan ran track when he grew up in Nassau and was introduced to football by an uncle who played in a semi-pro league on the island. But like so many, he became passionate about the sport while watching it on TV. 

 
"The first game I watched, I saw a team with the star on the helmet and I fell in love. The Dallas Cowboys," Jerome said. "I saw Tony Dorsett. I thought he was the greatest thing in cleats."

Jerome's track coach at the time had a connection to Larry Little, the Miami Dolphins Hall of Fame offensive lineman who took over as head football coach at then-Bethune-Cookman College in 1983. 

When Little met the 6-foot-5, 195-pound sprinter before the 1987 season, he was enamored. Jerome said he was timed at 4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash. To put that number in perspective, only three players ran a faster time at the 2020 NFL Combine.

"Once (Little) heard about the speed and he saw the size, he was excited about that," Jerome said. "They offered me a scholarship right then."

Jerome's football career never really took off though. A knee injury limited him to only two seasons. He returned to the Bahamas and started a family, but he couldn't shake the thoughts of "What if?"

"My love for the game never ceased," he said. 

The test subject

Jerome raised his sons to be football players no matter the obstacles. That includes the fences at a local golf course. 

"We'd sneak in," Prince said. "Me, my brother and my dad. My dad was the quarterback and we would just go on the golf course where there was good grass and he would teach me how to run routes."

They trio would go to the golf course three days a week — regardless of how many times employees ran then off. When they couldn't go to the golf course, they went to a local park or school. 

"I would describe it as first-hand coaching," Michael said. "I was able to grasp a lot of the information I needed from a younger age. It became natural for me growing up under him who actually played the sport. I was able to attain actual coaching points from somebody who actually played the game. It was exciting for me."

Jensen Beach High School hosted John Carroll Catholic High School on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, for a football game. John Carroll won the game 28-25.
 

There was a football league for high school-age players in Freeport for four years and Michael was able to play one season until it folded. 

Before Michael's sophomore year of high school, his parents sent him to Liberty Christian Academy in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school was founded by Dr. Jerry Falwell and is adjacent to Liberty University, with which the Strachan family was familiar. It also helped that Dmitri Knowles, a Bahaman track star Jerome coached in football in Freeport, made a similar trip to the United States a few years earlier. Knowles played at Liberty Christian and ultimately earned a scholarship at Virginia Tech.

Suddenly, Michael found himself in a new country with no family, all so he could pursue the family dream.

"It was a culture shock, different traditions," Michael said. "It was something I had to get adjusted to really quick. That's the biggest transition I ever made in my life, moving from the Bahamas to Virginia. It was pretty challenging at the time, moving away from my family."

Michael, now 6-5 and 229 pounds, adapted to American life and the game and earned a scholarship to Charleston University in West Virginia.

As a freshman at Charleston, Michael redshirted. As a redshirt freshman he played sparingly, catching just one pass. His redshirt sophomore year, Michael had over 1,000 receiving yards and eight touchdowns and earned all-conference honors. In 2019, his final college season, Michael ranked third in Division II with 19 touchdown catches.

His size and speed — he said he ran a 4.4 40 at his pro day at West Virginia University and was considering trying to qualify for the 2020 Bahamian Olympic track team as a sprinter before the summer games were delayed because of COVID-19 — make him an intriguing draft prospect despite concerns over his lower level of competition. 

Michael's success also charted a clear course for Prince. 

"He was the test subject," Prince said. "I look up to my brother and I want to do the same things he did. I would want to come for sure. If I was the first one, it would have been harder. I would have been the test subject."

Coming to America

The plan for Prince was to do the same thing Michael did — complete his freshman year of high school in Freeport before coming to the United States to play football. The Strachans considered sending Prince to Liberty Christian, but preferred a closer destination.

The best man at Jerome's wedding lived in Vero Beach, which was less than 30 minutes from John Carroll. 

Unfortunately, Prince was unable to start his sophomore year in the United States as his admission to the school kept getting delayed. It wasn't until after Hurricane Dorian, the Category 5 storm that devastated the Bahamas, that the Diocese of Palm Beach approved him for a student visa. 

"When the storm hit, they had sympathy on us," Prince said.

His late September arrival, coupled with a novice understanding of the American game, meant Prince was relegated to a handful of junior varsity games in 2019. John Carroll football coach/athletic director Mickey Groody saw a 6-foot athlete with raw skills, but it wasn't like Prince was a sure thing. 

John Carroll Catholic High School wide receiver Prince Strachan attempts to jump over a Treasure Coast High School defender to catch a pass on October 2, 2020 in Fort Pierce.
 

"I thought he had potential," Groody said. "He came in late. We didn’t get much time with him."

But the theory of coming to the United States and pursuing his father's dream was reality —  both the good and bad. He was in a new country surrounded by new people but was clinging to his brother's success as a map for his own. 

"You get home sick a lot," Prince said. "You really get homesick. Being here by myself, I really had to teach myself how to speak your language. Broken English is what we speak in the Bahamas. I had to get used to football and making friends by myself and fending for myself.

"Having my brother is encouraging. That’s the guy I look up to. He did the same thing I did. It was hard for him."

Blessing in disguise

When the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown happened, Jerome decided it would be best — and most cost-efficient — for his children in the United States to be together. Michael was established in West Virginia. His daughters, Jada and Jerell — both all-conference track athletes — were at Concord University in West Virginia. So Prince was sent to live in West Virginia, where the four shared an apartment.

"A big blessing for him was going to live with his brother during quarantine," Groody said.

John Carroll Catholic High School wide receiver Prince Strachan (left) with his brother, Michael Strachan, a wide receiver at the University of Charleston.
 

Reunited with Michael, Prince started doing everything his older brother did. When Michael worked out, Prince worked out. When Michael trained, Prince trained. When Michael studied film, Prince studied film.

"That was great," Prince said. "I was training with him and I got to learn a lot of stuff."

Prince also had another growth spurt. In the three months Prince lived in West Virginia, he grew three inches and added 20 pounds of muscle. When Groody first saw Prince when the team was allowed to gather for offseason workouts in June, he immediately had him stand next to Wilky Denaud — John Carroll's 6-4, 230-pound defensive end who already has several Power 5 offers. Groody took a picture and sent it to all of his assistant coaches.

"Prince came back a man," Groody said. "He had size, speed, jumping ability, everything."

Hoping for an opportunity 

Spring practice started Monday and Prince is ready to show he's a true No. 1 receiver for a John Carroll team that was a regional finalist in 2020.

Prince led the Golden Rams with 34 catches and was second on the team with 633 receiving yards (18.6 yards per catch) and eight touchdowns last fall. He gave a snapshot of his abilities in his first varsity game when he out-jumped a Port St. Lucie defensive back to catch a touchdown pass. Twice.

 

Prince did all he could this past offseason to get himself in the best shape possible. Groody constantly has to tell Prince to leave the weight room and go home. Sometimes Prince leaves the Vero Beach home he's staying at before 5:30 a.m. and doesn't return until after 6 p.m. Also a sprinter on John Carroll's track team, Prince doesn't have to do post-practice weight room training, but Groody says he's never missed a workout. 

"Even from my time (as an assistant coach) at Vero, I haven't had many like him. He’s definitely all in. That’s his main goal and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a Plan B. It might take him a year or two, but he’ll be someone's main target wherever he ends up. If he continues to grow and mature like his brother, he’s going to be pretty scary."

Prince, rated No. 7 on the TCPalm Super 11, already has an offer from Charleston, which is hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with a Strachan once again.

That's all he wants is an opportunity at the next level. A chance to take the same steps his father and brother did.

"I just need to show more of what I can do and how much I've progressed," Prince said. "Just do what I did last year, but on a bigger scale and try to do way better."

Jerome can't help but smile as he talks about his sons. Although he's never been able to watch Michael or Prince play a game in person since they left Freeport, he can see things are going according to the plan he had when he would sneak his sons onto a golf course so they could run routes on good grass. 

"I am so proud," Jerome said. "Michael was 15, sent into a different country, different culture, no friends, no family and he was still able to excel. I am just proud. And I am proud of Prince. Prince has done an outstanding job."

 
 
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