MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – There aren’t many opportunities for exposure to American football in the Bahamas. You can find flag football leagues around the country and the debut of the Bahamas Bowl in 2014 brought a handful of additional efforts to get kids playing tackle football. If you’re like Denzel Daxon, maybe you grew up watching some of the college games you got on television, usually featuring the Florida schools.
There’s an inherent ceiling to playing football in the Bahamas. Players with lofty gridiron ambitions have no choice but to come to the U.S. to get noticed.
“The day I met him,” said Michael Tunsil, who is Daxon’s guardian in South Florida, “he had on University of Miami slippers.”
Something about the sport – and particularly Hurricanes – captured his attention. The 6-foot-3, 305-pound teenager knew he had the build it took to be good at the sport, even if there weren’t many chances for him to try it out back home.
In July, Daxon made a move. The soon-to-be high school junior picked up and moved by himself to Florida, hoping he could capture Miami’s attention.
It took less than three months. The Hurricanes offered Daxon a scholarship on Oct. 14. Seven days later, the defensive tackle became the seventh member of Miami’s Class of 2019. He verbally committed to the program Saturday.
“I always wanted to go to Miami, so getting an offer was a blessing,” Daxon told DieHards on Tuesday. “So I committed. There was no question about it.”
