EW's Pridgen, Princeton's Frasier to showcase talents in Shrine Bowl

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 19, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Defensive specialist Dayshawn Pridgen and highly-recruited running back Johnny Frasier have -- once again -- each raised the bar a little bit higher for future football players at their respective high schools.

Pridgen is the first Eastern Wayne player since 1980 and just the third overall in program history to play in the prestigious Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas.

Until Frasier's arrival on the Princeton campus, no Bulldog had ever been selected to participate in the annual mid-December contest which began in 1937.

The duo will showcase their talents Saturday when North Carolina faces South Carolina at Gibbs Stadium. Kickoff is 2 p.m. South Carolina leads the all-time series 43-30-4.

"It's a fitting ending to his high school career," sixth-year EW head coach Bubba Williams said of Pridgen. "He's gone through a lot of issues and overcome most of them, especially his height and size (as a football player). His play shows the kids the process you've got to go through to get there."

Over the past two seasons, Pridgen helped lead the Warriors to 22 victories and back-to-back appearances in the eastern 3-A regional championship game. His most-impressive accomplishment during the regular season was holding Clemson recruit Cornell Powell of J.H. Rose to just two catches in an impressive 63-23 win in mid-October.

Pridgen hopes to attract attention of college scouts during the game. No one has officially offered the 5-foot-6, 155-pounder a scholarship ... yet.

"He's deserving and I think he can compete at any level. He'll prove that if he goes out and plays well this weekend," Williams said. "He's got some people contacting him so hopefully something good will come out of it. He's starting to realize just how good of a player he is and that he can compete with anybody at any time."

Division I recruiters have salivated over Frasier since his record-breaking junior year that included a 3,000-yard rushing performance. Frasier verbally committed to Florida State and isn't expected to make his formal announcement until signing day in February.

A monstrous 226-pounder, Frasier has rewritten nearly every rushing record in school history set by the Bulldogs' last Division I recruit -- Duke alum Mike Atkinson.

Princeton has won seven playoff games and advanced to the eastern 1-A championship contest (in 2012) with Frasier in uniform. The Bulldogs have been eliminated from the postseason by the eventual state champions each of the past three years.

"With Princeton being such a small town, Johnny has definitely brought a lot of attention to our school and community (and) to do that on a big stage is awesome," third-year PHS head coach Derrick Minor said. "He is going to be around some really good coaches and really good players. We've told him to treat it as an early Christmas present.

"Just enjoy the experience, have fun."