3-star OL Strachan to decide soon
Before entering high school, Christian Strachan lived in the Bahamas and had never played football. As he enters his senior year at Hialeah (Fla.) Champagnat Catholic, he is perhaps just weeks away from choosing from 11 D-1 schools that have offered him to play college football as an offensive guard.
The three-star Strachan, who stands at 6-foot-3, 303 pounds, has narrowed his finalists down to Cincinnati, Louisville and USF and hopes to announce before the start of the season.
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"The deciding factors, first is the business school part," Strachan said. "Location doesn't matter to me because I'm away from home already. I'll look at the atmosphere and how the team is and if it's a place where I can come in and play."
Strachan left his family in the Bahamas to live with his uncle and attend school, seeking the opportunity to take advantage of his size and athleticism through football.
"I had to adapt," he said. "It was hard for people to understand me because of my accent and I had to learn to speak with an American accent.
"And I had to learn football."
Strachan was a quick study, as best demonstrated by his role on the offensive line for the 2013 state champion Champagnat Catholic.
Cincinnati stands out to Strachan because of its business program and current Bearcat Chris Ferguson, who grew up with Strachan in the Bahamas. He also knows Bearcats Alex Thomas of Hollywood, Fla., and Franklin Labady, a former Champagnat Catholic teammate.
"Chris said it's a good school and the campus is awesome," Strachan said. "He likes the team atmosphere and the campus is nice and big."
Louisville stands out to Strachan as well and the Cardinals have Chucky Williams, a redshirt freshman and former Champagnat teammate of Strachan's.
"I like everything about Louisville," Strachan said. "That's a winning program and Chuck said it's good there."
South Florida is the only school of his finalists that he's visited.
"They have an awesome business program," he said. "It seems like a good atmosphere. They're on the come-up and they've got a good recruiting class and everything."
Following his announcement, Strachan still plans on taking five official visits, with his top three being likely destinations and he isn't sure of the other two. He plans on visiting Cincinnati for an official on Sept. 20. For the Bearcats' game against Miami (Ohio).
Strachan gave up just one sack last season and had 45 pancakes.
Adam Krohn is a Southeast Region football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.