Brothers play on opposing football teams
Published on Thu., October 23rd, 2008
Believe it not, KU running back Jocques Crawford was almost a Texas Tech Red Raider — twice.
Crawford signed a letter of intent with Tech coming out of high school but decided to go to junior college instead. Then, he committed to Tech again before changing his mind and signing with Kansas this spring. This weekend the two teams will meet in an 11 a.m. matchup at Memorial Stadium to celebrate Homecoming.
Junior running back Jacques Crawford takes a handoff from junior quarterback Todd Reesing during Saturday’s game at Oklahoma. Crawford will play this weekend against his brother Aaron, who is a running back for Texas Tech.
Photo by Jon Goering
Crawford soured on Tech for several reasons. They wanted him to play safety, but he wanted to play running back. Also, his brother Aaron is a sophomore running back for the Red Raiders and Crawford didn’t want to have to compete with him for playing time.
“I only had two years left and they barely run the ball anyway,” Crawford said. “I just felt like he needed as much opportunity as he could to get the ball in his hands there. I didn’t want to go there and be in a competition with him. I would have loved to have play with my brother but that wasn’t a situation that I wanted to be in.”
If Crawford had gone to Tech as a safety, then there could have been a Crawford brother on offense and defense.
“I thought about it a lot,” Crawford said. “At one point in time, I was like it might be kind of nice to have a Crawford on this side of the ball and a Crawford on that side of the ball. I did keep that in mind a lot, but when it came time for me to sign, defense just wasn’t what I wanted to do and I wanted to go play offense somewhere.”
Aaron Crawford is out with a foot fracture and may take a redshirt this season, meaning he won’t be playing in Saturday’s matchup. But the two still talk almost daily and help each other when one needs advice.
“He watched our game so he was critiquing me a little bit on the kickoff return and he thought me getting hit was funny,” Crawford said. “I didn’t think it was funny, but we just joke around like that. He loves me and I love him. We talk a lot.”
Crawford came to Kansas as the National Junior College Player of the Year and soon after said his goal was 2,000 yards rushing this season. He has rushed for only 124 yards and three touchdowns on 41 carries after rushing for more than 1,900 yards last year at Cisco Junior College.
Crawford took over the kick returner duties for the Oklahoma game and returned his first career kick for 42 yards. It’s been a struggle for Crawford, who has had to adjust to not being the main running back for the first time in his career.
“I try to be confident in myself and just wait for my time to come and be patient,” Crawford said. “Jake had a few breakout games the past two, three games, so he is doing what he can do. I just hope that one day, my time comes like that.”
- Edited by Brenna Hawley
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