Heads turn and people follow Jocques Crawford as he searches for a seat in Mrkonic Auditorium to participate in Kansas Football Media Day.

The junior running back sits at the end of the first row and immediately cameras and microphones are placed right in front of his face. The media wants Crawford to explain the aura surrounding his arrival in Lawrence.

There are the accolades – Crawford received the National Junior College Player of the Year Award at Cisco Community College in Texas last season. There’s the hype – rivals.com ranks Crawford as the best recruit in coach Mark Mangino’s new class.

And then, there’s the number. Crawford is wearing a blue Jayhawk jersey like the other 25 players in the room, only his is imprinted with the No. 3 in the middle.

“I’ve always wanted to wear three,” Crawford says. “I’ve worn three since high school.”

But that number carries an extra significance in Lawrence lately. The last two Jayhawks to wear the digit – Charles Gordon and Aqib Talib – became college stars and now play in the NFL.

“I’ve been told,” Crawford says.

Crawford admits that inheriting Talib’s number brings extra pressure. But he’s not worried about it. Crawford has gone through too much to reach this point, where he’s the center of attention on the defending Orange Bowl champions, to stress about something as trivial as what’s on the front of his jersey.

*****

‘Memphis’ is tattooed down Crawford’s left tricep in bold black letters.

Crawford is proud of where he comes from. But that doesn’t mean he wants to go back.

“The only thing I miss about Memphis,” Crawford said, “is my family.”

Memphis isn’t only Crawford’s hometown, but also the place where he thought his football dreams had ended twice in less than a year.

Before his senior season at Cordova High School, Crawford and two friends were arrested and charged with felony aggravated rape. The charges were reduced to misdemeanor simple assault, but the damage had already been done on Crawford’s football career.

The Memphis School District suspended Crawford from athletics for the upcoming semester. He would miss the football season.

In a controversial decision, however, the school district changed its ruling. Crawford and his mother had appealed and won. Some Memphians were outraged by the decision and labeled it as a classic case of an athlete receiving special treatment and escaping punishment.

Crawford said some might still hold what happened three years ago against him in Memphis. He doesn’t really know, though. Nor does he care.

“I’m putting it behind me and just staying focused,” Crawford said. “I came here to go to school and play football.”

By averting the disaster of potentially missing his senior season of high school football, everything seemed to fall into place for Crawford. He couldn’t be stopped when he ran the ball and rivals.com ranked him as one of the best high school running backs in the country.

Crawford committed to Texas Tech before the 2006 season. That was just months before the something else happened that made Crawford question if he would ever have a real opportunity to chase his dreams of an NFL career.

His grades came shortly after he completed high school at Cordova. They weren’t high enough to play Division-I college football. Crawford wouldn’t be moving to Lubbock, Texas, to play for the Red Raiders his freshman year of college.

“I felt like my life was over,” Crawford said.

*****

Crawford had never heard of a junior college football player going on to a successful career. He didn’t think they existed.

Then, Xavier Crawford, Jocques’ father who played college football for Memphis in the 1980’s, told his son the story of one of his best friends.

Xavier told Jocques about Issac Bruce, who currently plays for the San Francisco 49ers after 14 seasons with the St. Louis Rams. Bruce had played at two junior colleges in California before transferring to Memphis and being drafted in the NFL.

Jocques had met Bruce many times before. He just never knew about his junior college career. By hearing about it, Crawford re-focused once again.

“I see people like that who went to junior college and still became successful,” Crawford said. “It kind of drives me and gives me a goal to set for myself.”

Crawford decided to attend Cisco Junior College in Cisco, Texas – a ranching community with a population about equal to the number of students who attended Crawford’s high school.

There, he could concentrate on school and football. He intended to make himself better so in two years he could head west and attend Texas Tech like he originally planned.

Those plans changed. The Red Raider coaches told Crawford they wanted him to play defense even though he led the nation in junior college rushing yards and averaged nearly seven yards per carry.

Texas Tech had a star freshman running back. His name was Aaron Crawford, Jocques’ brother. When Jocques told the coaches he didn’t want to play defense, they offered to let him play in the backfield with his brother. Jocques didn’t like that idea, either.

“Tech doesn’t run the ball much at all and I wanted my brother to have just as much success as I do, if not more,” Crawford said. “So I just felt I need to let him be there and let him do his own thing.”

*****

Crawford laughs about it now. At the end of last November, he sat in his dorm room in Cisco and watched No. 2 Kansas and No. 3 Missouri battle it out at Arrowhead Stadium on ABC.

He had no idea he’d commit to Kansas in two months at the time. Crawford hadn’t received much recruiting attention after telling Texas Tech he wouldn’t be coming to Lubbock.

Crawford said he heard it was because Web sites still listed him as committed to the Red Raiders. It might have been because of his reputation. Whatever it was, it wasn’t for lack of production.

Crawford rushed for 1,935 yards and 19 touchdowns his sophomore season at Cisco. But he wanted to play in the Big 12 Conference his next year and didn’t have any offers.

Enter Kansas. Crawford liked that starting running back Brandon McAnderson had graduated. He bonded with head coach Mark Mangino and offensive coordinator Ed Warriner. He enjoyed his visit to Lawrence. He committed.

“He was recruited because we were hoping he’d have an immediate impact,” Mangino said shortly after Crawford signed.

Now, Crawford is in the middle of a position battle with junior running back Jake Sharp and saying all the right things about it.

Crawford says he and Sharp aren’t treating it like a fight for playing time and are close friends. He says Sharp has helped ease his transition to Kansas by acting as a confidant on the practice field.

“I know how hard it is to come in here and play right away,” Sharp said. “It’s no easy feat. He’s been working hard and I’ve been helping him any way I can.”

With Crawford and Sharp, the Jayhawks could have one of the better 1-2 punches of running backs in the Big 12. That’s exactly what Crawford and Sharp say they envision.

Mangino describes Crawford as a powerful running back – the opposite of Sharp who is more of a quick, small threat out of the backfield. He still expects him to play right away.

“We have high expectations for him,” Mangino said. “Like any other player who comes from junior high or high school, he has to prove that he can play at this level every down. I think he will.”

*****

The hour allotted for players to talk to the media is wrapping up at Mrkonic Auditorium.

Crawford, who has sat straight up with good posture and talked for 55 straight minutes, leans back in his chair and takes a deep breath.

It’s been exhausting sharing his story with everyone who asks. But Crawford is used to reflecting.

“Everyday I sit back and think about the things I had to do to get to this point right now,” he said.