Strachan is officially a Colt

To those who watched the three Indianapolis CoIts’ preseason games, it will come as no surprise that Bahamian wide receiver Mike Strachan made the Colts’ 53-man roster.

The deadline for National Football League (NFL) teams to cut their rosters to 53 active players was yesterday at 4 p.m.

Before the deadline, the rookie tweeted an ambiguous post: “Always be thankful!!”. Bahamians and other fans now know that he is thankful for making the team.

The Grand Bahama native was the third Bahamian-born player to be drafted into the NFL. Ed Smith was the first, by the Denver Broncos, in the 13th round in 1973 – number 319 overall. In 2004, Devard Darling became the second when he was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round – number 82 overall.

Strachan’s first opportunity to hit the field, in a regular season game, will come when the Colts welcome the Seattle Seahawks to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, at 1 p.m. on Sunday September 12. It will be their first game of the 2021-2022 season and will air live on Fox.

The 6’ 5” receiver has shown that he has strength, speed and agility and could be a serious threat for opposing defenses.

In his first preseason game, against the Carolina Panthers, Strachan helped the Colts secure a 21-18 victory. He caught three balls for 57 yards. In a 12-10 win against the Minnesota Vikings, he finished with two catches for 12 yards, and in their final preseason game against the Detroit Lions, he exploded and caught five balls for 61 yards. They won that game, 27-17.

The University of Charleston (UC) Golden Eagles product is officially now on a Colts team that finished second in the American Football Conference (AFC) South Division last season with an 11-5 win/loss record. They advanced to the playoffs but were eliminated in the wild card round by the Buffalo Bills, losing 27-24.

It was a tough battle for Strachan at the wide receiver position, with the likes of T.Y. Hilton, Michael Pittman, Parris Campbell and Zach Pascal, all in the mix. Pascal was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday. Hilton is out with an injury (neck/back) with no time frame specified for his return.

After his final preseason game on Friday, Strachan said camp was great and added that hopefully the perfect record in the preseason will give them momentum.

“I felt it was a great camp,” Strachan said. “We all came in, competed and worked hard. We finished strong and went 3-0, so right now we have that momentum moving forward into the regular season.”

The seventh-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft realized that it was an outside shot for him to make the roster going into training camp and the preseason. He did not had a season in 2020 at the Eagles had their National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II season canceled due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his final season for the Golden Eagles in 2019, Strachan played in all 11 games, totaling 19 touchdown receptions. He had 78 receptions for a total of 1,319 receiving yards. In his first three games that season, he had at least 145 receiving yards in each one. The speedster scored at least one touchdown in 10 of those 11 games that year and caught a touchdown in all 10 of the Mountain East Conference (MEC) games.

Those 19 touchdowns and 78 receptions were UC single-season records. The previous touchdown record was 13, which was set by Charlie Hubbard all the way back in 1950, and the previous receptions record was 60, set by Terrance Spencer in 2006.

The post Strachan is officially a Colt appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

source https://thenassauguardian.com/strachan-is-officially-a-colt/