His birth certificate says Ramone, but you can call him Teacha.

Valparaiso Athletics

The Valparaiso coaching staff has known Ramone Howell had professional soccer in his future for quite some time. As far back as the Jamaican midfielder’s sophomore season, they’re on the record discussing the possibility — and they were proven correct on Tuesday when Nashville SC announced Howell as a member of its inaugural USL squad.

Valpo head coach Mike Avery still remembers the scouting trip when he first recognized the extent of Howell’s upside.

“He was as highly recommended by every source I have [in Jamaica] as I had ever heard,” Avery told Music City Soccer. “When I finally got a chance to see him live, I knew in about 30 seconds that he was a special talent.”

“Ramone has this incredible combination of smooth, fluid movements and explosive, athletic bursts. He glides past opposition and can turn a game on its head in a moment. He’s creative, has great vision, can score himself, and plays the decisive ball that leads to goals. As an attacking player, he brings a lot to the table.”

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From the moment Howell arrived in Northwest Indiana, the Valpo coaching staff had a hard time keeping him off the pitch. He started 18 of 19 matches in 2014, earning Horizon League All-Freshman Honors. He was no less a fixture in the Crusdaders’ starting XI over the next three years, culminating in a 2017 campaign that saw him named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference second team. Between his freshman and sophomore seasons, Howell earned a call-up to the Jamaica U-23 squad during Olympic qualifiers.

“What has impressed me most about Ramone, though, is his character,” said Avery. “He is kind, soft spoken, thoughtful, and is willing to do anything asked of him for the good of the group. He was our captain in his senior year, and he led the group with a quiet confidence that immediately settles the room.”

It’s that attitude which earned Howell the nickname “Teacha,” first given to him by a high school coach in his hometown of Portmore, Jamaica. The sobriquet took root, and Howell told Music City Soccer that, now, only his family calls him Ramone; to everyone else, he’s Teacha.

Teacha is Jamaican Patois for “teacher.” Howell says it was inspired by the way he always took a leadership role on his teams and, as you might have guessed, the way he would take opposition defenders to school. But even as Howell seeks to give Nashville fans cause to sing the name Teacha, it’s the people who call him Ramone who are most on his mind.

“What motivates me is my family back home,” Howell told The Torch in 2015. “I want to be wealthy enough to help them. My mother works really hard for me to be here. She has prepared me to be the man I am today, so I would like to repay her in a way that she can live comfortably.”

“He was raised by a hard-working mother and older brother,” added Avery, “and his family is everything to him.”

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Though USL clubs aren’t in the habit of making individual contract details public, what we can infer from payroll data suggests that most of the league’s contracts barely amount to a living wage. So Howell still has more work to do to get his family set up the way he wants, but he’s got his foot in the door at a club that will be entering Major League Soccer in 2019 or 2020. And head coach Gary Smith said on Tuesday that Howell “has all the qualities to be a top flight №8,” or box-to-box midfielder.

It’s a big hill to climb from being passed over in the MLS SuperDraft to making an MLS roster; even players selected in the first round have long odds to stick with a team. But if Howell never plays first division soccer in the United States, it won’t be for lack of determination.

“You can’t get from Portmore to a U.S. university and then graduate with a degree in just three and a half years without incredible focus and determination,” said Avery. “This is storybook stuff and I could not be more proud of Ramone.”

“We are extremely happy for Ramone. He’s a tremendous player, and an even better person, and I think everyone in Nashville will enjoy having him in the team.”