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Monday, January 21, 2008

Juco running back commits to Kansas

By J-W Staff Reports

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Kansas University's football team received a commitment on Sunday from one of its top remaining targets.

Jocques Crawford, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound running back originally from Memphis, Tenn., gave the Jayhawks an oral commitment after taking an official visit this weekend, according to Rivals.com.

Crawford was the NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year in 2007, rushing for 1,935 yards and 19 touchdowns for Cisco (Texas) Junior College. It's the most yards a juco back has rushed for in seven seasons.

He's hoping to put up big numbers for the Jayhawks and thinks it's possible thanks to KU's scheme.

"I like the fact that it is a no-huddle (offense), and they keep the defense spread out with their formations," Crawford told Rivals. "They get guys out of the box with what they do. This year I was used to facing defenses with nine in the box."

Crawford, who will be a junior in 2008, will provide immediate relief to a position losing 1,000-yard rusher Brandon McAnderson to graduation. KU's running-back position for 2008 now features Crawford, juniors Jake Sharp and Angus Quigley and sophomore Carmon Boyd-Anderson.

Crawford originally signed with Texas Tech, where his brother Joe currently is, but was a non-qualifier and enrolled at Cisco instead. He committed to Texas Tech again, but looked elsewhere after Tech revealed plans to use him on defense.

He eventually chose Kansas over TCU.

Being a May graduate, Crawford will sign early next month and move to campus this summer.

"I was stressing out where I would end up," Crawford told Rivals. "I feel like Kansas is a place where I can step in and be the main guy."

Kansas also received a commitment Sunday from Dublin (Ohio) standout Josh Richardson, a 6-4, 195-pound linebacker. Richardson is the brother of former Ohio State standout Jay Richardson, currently a defensive end on the NFL's Oakland Raiders.

KU now has 20 known commitments for the 2008 class, including four who already are on campus.

The commitments of Crawford and Richardson are non-binding until the two sign letters of intent. Signing day is Feb. 6.

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Comments

plasticJHawk (anonymous) says...

I don't feel like we were in dire need of depth at the running back position, but Crawford sounds like he could be a heck of a back for us next year. And hopefully this Richardson guy will gain 50 lbs by next fall, I can't hardly imagine KU having a 6'4", 250 lb linebacker... man, he could be a monster in a few years.

January 21, 2008 at 7:12 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

lance1jhawk (anonymous) says...

I hope all of our recruits are great young men like our graduating seniors. If they remember its about the team and not them, Hopefully they will be fine.

January 21, 2008 at 7:20 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

hawkfan20 (anonymous) says...

We definitely needed a RB in this class; no question about it. A lot of question marks going into next season at the RB position. Perhaps, the remaining stable of backs would have stepped up and filled in, but I certainly feel a lot better now that we have Jocques on board.

January 21, 2008 at 7:34 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

billhawk (anonymous) says...

Welcome aboard! Glad to have you with us. Study hard, stay out of trouble, and run for a couple thousand yards while you're at it. :) Go Hawks!

January 21, 2008 at 7:39 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

klong (anonymous) says...

I was a little worried about that position too. I think Sharp is pretty good, but don't think he can handle the entire load. Great sign! The future continues to look bright.

January 21, 2008 at 8:08 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

longhawk (anonymous) says...

I'm glad to have Crawford on board. He's living proof that you can learn from mistakes in high school and make the most of your situation. He'll be great for us.

January 21, 2008 at 8:49 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

hawkitup (anonymous) says...

Crawford did make some mistakes in high school but hopefully, as longhawk suggested, he has learned from them and matured. Should be a good addition to the team if that is indeed the case.

January 21, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

97jhawk (anonymous) says...

If you've ever listened to Coach Mangino, he finds a player's character just as important as his athletic ability. Mangino is no Glen Mason. Mangino is a no BS kind of coach and it seems as though most players respect him. Even the likes of the stars such as Talib. Mangino will keep the kid in line.

I also think having a solid two back set is great for the spread offense. It worked effectively this year with B-Mac and Sharpie. I say the more the merrier. If Crawford can produce numbers like that with 9 in the box, imagine what he might be able to do to defenses that have only 5 or 3 in the box due to our spread offense. Should be sweet.

Thankfully, Warinner is sticking around. It's unfortunate we lost Coach Young, but hopefully they'll promote within the program.

January 21, 2008 at 10:26 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

you can NEVER have too many quality running backs!

but ... how are we doing at tight end, with Fine graduating?

January 21, 2008 at 10:47 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

mvjayhawk (anonymous) says...

Jocques Crawford, great get! Welcome Jocques!
He sounds like a real stud, he'll push Jake and Angus for sure.....he may push 'em out of the way....tee he.
the two back system worked great last year.....no reason to believe it won't work again. Again, rock chalk Jocques!

January 21, 2008 at 11:10 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

plasticJHawk (anonymous) says...

We've already got at least two tight ends in this recruiting class. One of them is one of the top in-state recruits if I remember correctly.

January 21, 2008 at 11:13 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

rockchalks7 (anonymous) says...

We have got two tight ends coming in and both are ranked in the top 50. Zach Biery from Nebraska and Tanner Hawkinson from Kansas. With no other tight ends one of them will have to take the d fine role and run with it.

January 21, 2008 at 11:15 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

plasticJHawk (anonymous) says...

I'm disappointed that we used Boyd-Anderson's redshirt. I remember him being hyped big-time last August and September, and then I never got to see him play. Just from what Mangino was saying about him early on I still think he will be a quality running back, and if he'd have redshirted he possibly could have been the featured back for two years after the three juniors move on.

January 21, 2008 at 11:17 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

number1jayhawker (anonymous) says...

rockchalks7

The TE from NE is Tim Biere. We also have a TE on the roster already by the name of Bradley Dedeaux. He'll be a RS So next year.

January 21, 2008 at 12:35 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkinatl (anonymous) says...

Are we still in the running for Cyrus Gray??? I checked out A&M's commits on Rivals and he's not listed.

January 21, 2008 at 1:06 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jimmy_Dean (Alan Halvorsen) says...

Also Marc Jones will be a senior next year at TE, he's a big guy who should be able to block. He for him a little bit next year.

January 21, 2008 at 1:26 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

dagger108 (anonymous) says...

Go to the FB eligibility page (http://kansas.scout.com/a.z?s=172&p=9...) at Phog.net, tho it is not completely updated (Chris Harris is still listed as a WR).

RB was the least of my worries with Quigley, Sharp, Bean, & Boyd-Anderson, (Murphy?), but Crawford sounds like a stud (with some past problems?) who hopefully will live up to his potential.

There are 3 TE's in this class - T. Biere, T. Hawkinson, N. Plato, plus one per year ahead of them. I also seem to recall the TE & QB are the HS positions that commonly get moved elsewhere once they get to D1.

Hopefully, the we continue to get quality OL recruits, because after losing both OT's this year, we lose the entire middle of the line next year.

Speaking of next year, we also lose our entire LB crew. This year's soph's showed plenty of potential when they have seen action, but after that there are 2 lone recruit classes. Hopefully, Coach Tovar can work as much magic recruit as he has on the field.

My real concern is with the DB's. That is what you can never have to much of in this increasingly pass happy landscape. They use to say that about RB's (along with "3 yds & a cloud of dust"), but times are changing.

January 21, 2008 at 2:02 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JBurtin (anonymous) says...

Marc Jones is gone, this was his senior year and he was overtaken on the depth chart by Dedeaux.

Dedeaux will be a redshirt sophmore; he is 6'2" and very strong. Looks more like a blocking TE than the athletic pass catchers that have become so popular today, but that is okay. Blocking is one of those unsung hero kinds of jobs that every team desperately needs.

Biere and Hawkinson both won MVP at different Nike camps

Biere looks like a Derek Fine clone. He has the appearance of a lineman, but has great hands.

Hawkinson is the type of player we've been waiting for. He's 6'6" and athletic, yet is a complete player in that he's just as good a blocker as he is a pass catcher.

Nick Plato is the X-factor. He is also 6'6" and just as athletic as Hawkinson. He played both D-end and Tight end in high school. He was an early graduate, so is already on campus. I'm with dagger on this one, I think that the coaches are most likely thinking of putting him at TE, so they brought him in for spring practices to learn the offense.

I predict that both Plato and Tanner Hawkinson will skip redshirts.

January 21, 2008 at 3:10 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Mr_Sandman (anonymous) says...

I think that Jake could be a very effective screen and quick out type of guy, but it will be nice to have a guy that can run with power and has a burst. Watch the highlight videos on this Crawford guy, he flat out trucked some guys in Juco and he has breakaway speed. I think that Jake might be well suited as more of the situational back, whereas this guy can be a horse. From what I have heard from a few friends in Texas he is a stud and they just don't give anybody a National Player of the Year award either.

January 21, 2008 at 4:34 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Mr_Sandman (anonymous) says...

Some thoughts on Hawkinson: I have seen him play a few times and he is a solid blocker and good athlete. I would say that his physical gifts are way ahead of his technique at this point, but that is easily fixed. He has great potential if for no other reason than that he has a great frame and athletic ability. Also, he is a pretty good basketball player too which can only help his hands/athleticism.

January 21, 2008 at 4:38 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

BPSkelly (anonymous) says...

Having a multiple back scheme is great. It'd be swell to have super stud RB, and this guy sounds like he could be that guy, but even if he's not, I like the concept of keeping them fresh.

It seemed like when KU ran it this year, it wasnt play-to-play that they switched. It was more like series-to-series. And clearly it seemed to work. B Mac got more of the carries I think, but having Sharp there to be productive when he wasnt in there helped them both I think. It sounds like that could be the situation again next year with this guy.

Whatever works and gets us back into a bowl game again is fine by me.

January 21, 2008 at 5:04 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkinatl (anonymous) says...

Anyone know anything about our chances to land Cyrus Gray??? Does the Crawford signing pretty much eliminate us???

January 21, 2008 at 5:52 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JBurtin (anonymous) says...

I think he's still pretty set on A&M.

Getting a Juco guy that feels that he can overcome the competition is one thing, but the chances of a high school kid outworking 3 Juniors, 2 Sophmores and a red shirt freshman for one playing spot is pretty slim. I can understand that a guy like him probably doesn't want to spend a ton of time riding the pine. A&M runs the ball so much that he can probably get carries there right away.

I'm okay with just taking a Juco guy for now, and a very good one at that. That will leave an opening for some of the best backs in the nation next year.

Bryce Brown anyone?

January 21, 2008 at 8:31 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jimmy_Dean (Alan Halvorsen) says...

I guess you're right Burtin, for some reason I thought he had another year left. Due to injury or what not. I guess Dedeaux will be the most experienced one next year. I think Hawkinson will get the most P.T. though. I like him out of the slot.

January 22, 2008 at 8:28 a.m. ( | suggest removal )