Darius Prince
Albany Firebirds
Position:Wide receiver
Personal information
Born: (1990-04-23) April 23, 1990 (age 33)
McKeesport, Pennsylvania
Height:6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school:West Mifflin Area High School
College:Penn State Beaver
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
  • First Team All-NAL (2017)
  • ArenaBowl champion (XXX)
  • ArenaBowl XXXI Most Valuable Player (2017)
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com · ArenaFan.com

Darius Prince (born April 23, 1990) is an American football wide receiver for the Albany Firebirds of the Arena Football League (AFL). Before joining the San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) in 2019, he played on various indoor football teams including the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks from 2016 to 2017 and the Soul from 2017 to 2018. Prince received 1st Team All-NAL team honors with the Steelhawks and the ArenaBowl MVP Award with the Soul during ArenaBowl XXX in 2017.

Early life and education

Prince was born on April 23, 1990.[1] During his childhood, he focused on basketball while living with his siblings in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.[2] For his post-secondary education, Prince was on basketball teams for Penn State Greater Allegheny and Penn State Beaver.[3]

Career

After graduation, Prince switched to football when he could not find a representative to start his basketball career. Prince started his football career when he briefly played with the Erie Explosion in 2014 and took up semi-professional football in Pittsburgh from 2014 to 2016.[4] In 2016, Prince signed with the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks for the National Arena League. As a member of the Steelhawks from 2016 to 2017, Prince had 20 touchdowns for a total of 718 yards and was named on the 1st Team All-NAL team during the 2017 National Arena League season.[5]

In 2017, Prince switched to the Arena Football League to play for the Philadelphia Soul. His first games with the Soul was during the 2017 Arena Football League season playoffs. During the two playoff games, Prince totaled 103 receiving yards and received the ArenaBowl MVP Award after his team won ArenaBowl XXX.[6] The following season, Prince had 1076 receiving yards for 24 touchdowns during the 2018 Arena Football League season.[7]

In August 2018, Prince went to the National Football League to play with the Philadelphia Eagles. During his two preseason games with the Eagles, he scored 3 touchdowns for 103 receiving yards before he was cut from the team in September 2018.[8] In 2019, Prince left the AFL to join the Alliance of American Football with the San Antonio Commanders.[6] He was waived on March 18, 2019. He was added back to the Commanders' rights list and signed to a contract on March 20, and activated to the roster on March 21.

After the AAF suspended football operations, Prince re-signed with the Philadelphia Soul on April 13, 2019. The AFL suspended operations on November 27, 2019.

Prince signed with the New York Guardians of the XFL on January 8, 2020.[9] He was waived during final roster cuts on January 22, 2020.[10]

On April 29, 2021, Prince signed with the Albany Empire of the National Arena League (NAL).[11] On January 14, 2022, Prince re-signed with the Empire for the 2022 NAL season.[12] On October 7, 2022, Prince re-signed with the Empire for the 2023 NAL season.[13] On May 8, 2023 he signed with the Orlando Predators.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Darius Prince". National Football League. Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  2. ^ Philadelphia Soul (May 8, 2018). "Philly's Newest 'Fresh Prince' Starting Season Strong". OurSportsCentral. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  3. ^ Bryant, Michael (August 22, 2018). "Darius Prince never played college football, but after a successful season in the AFL he's vying for an Eagles roster spot". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  4. ^ Padanilam, Ben (July 11, 2018). "Darius Prince needed years to make his way to the AFL. He only needed two games to become a star". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  5. ^ Townsend, Gabby (n.d.). "Philly's Newest 'Fresh Prince' Starting Season Strong". Arena Football. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Hiles, Noah (February 8, 2019). "Former PSU-Beaver hoop star Darius Prince playing in new football league". The Beaver County Times. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  7. ^ "Darius Prince". Arenafan. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  8. ^ Kerr, Jeff (September 1, 2018). "Eagles cut former Arena Bowl MVP Darius Prince". 247Sports. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
  9. ^ "XFL Transactions". XFL.com. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  10. ^ Talbot, Damond (January 22, 2020). "A Full List of XFL Roster Cuts, Who was released today?". NFLDraftDiamonds.com. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  11. ^ "2021 NAL Transactions". nationalarenaleague.com.
  12. ^ "2022 NAL Transactions". nationalarenaleague.com.
  13. ^ "2023 NAL Transactions". nationalarenaleague.com.
  14. ^ "Roster shakeups continue for the Albany Empire". CBS6 Albany.
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