Barcelona Dragons sign University of South Florida alumnus Darius Slade

| American Football | 12/09/2022

The Barcelona Dragons of the European League of Football (ELF) have named their first American import with the signing of University of South Florida (USF) (NCAA, DI) defensive end Darius Slade.

The 6 ‘5″, 257-pound New Jersey native most recently suited up for the USF Bulls in 2019 where he recorded 32 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble as well as being named team captain in his senior year.

However, Slade’s collegiate journey didn’t begin with USF. Following his graduation from Montclair High School, NJ, the three-star recruit committed to Ohio State University (NCAA, DI) and redshirted the 2014 season before seeing his first action in 2015. 

Unfortunately for Slade, an Achilles injury kept him sidelined for the entire 2016 season and it was after this that he decided to transfer to Arizona State (NCAA, DI). Before the days of the portal, the NCAA forced players to sit out a season upon transferring and Slade was forced to miss the 2017 season. Slade started seven games for the Sun Devils in 2018 and tallied 2.5 sacks.

It was in 2019 that Slade found his college football home with a transfer to USF. Like a number of other ELF signings this year, Slade has been away from football for a number of years. His proven ability to play football at the highest college level, however, will surely act as a counter balance for time away from the sport.

Daniel Mackenzie is a Press Association graduate who works in journalism and communications in the third sector. Daniel began playing football for the London Warriors and Team Great Britain and has since played across Europe.