MOBILE, Ala. – Growing up, University of South Alabama senior football player Clifton Crews played one position.

"When we first moved to Atlanta, the coach who was at the park around the corner saw my size — I've always been kind of tall — and tried to get me to play center the first day," Crews remembered.  "The next day when I came back he moved me to quarterback, and ever since then football has been something I love.  Sometimes I miss it because I played the position since I was five years old, but my mind is set on defense now."

That's a good thing for the Jaguars — who are 2-3 entering Saturday afternoon's Homecoming contest against Kent State — as the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder has gone on to record 20 tackles for loss including 8½ sacks in the last four-plus seasons, both figures that rank among the top-five all-time in the program's history.

Not bad for someone who only played defense for one year prior to his arrival on campus.


Since that second day of practice, Crews proved to be an effective quarterback running the triple option.  He would go on to be a three-year starter at Jonesboro High, earning first-team all-region and all-county honors as a senior after throwing for 856 yards, rushing for 487 more and accounting for a total of 11 touchdowns.  But as a senior he added responsibilities on the other side of the ball, playing safety and outside linebacker for the Cardinals.

How could an individual who had never played defense before be put in a position to make an immediate impact?  "They let me freelance, they just put me wherever they thought the ball was going and let me get after it," Crews said.

The results were eye-opening.  Crews totalled 136 tackles — which included a pair of sacks — and he intercepted three passes.  His contributions helped theCardinals finish 7-5, but more importantly they contributed to the school's first-ever postseason victory in 49 years of competition after winning their first-round 4A state playoff contest.

The performance — particularly on defense — also opened up the eyes of the schools recruiting Crews, especially those above the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision level.

And not only had Crews experienced success on the football field, he displayed what he was capable of accomplishing athletically year-round at the high school level.  In addition to playing varsity basketball for three years, he was a four-year letterwinner on the track while competing in the 200-meter dash as well as the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays.  There were multiple reasons that he didn't specialize in football at JHS.

"Football was always the main sport.  Basketball and track were beneficial to football," he observed.  "If I wasn't going to work in the offseason, my dad didn't want me getting in trouble so I had to get involved in those other sports."

Jaguar head coach Joey Jones and his staff knew from what they witnessed throughout the recruiting process where they saw Crews fitting in with a program that had at that point yet to take the field (spring practice would start one month after National Signing Day, when Crews officially became part of the program).  "We felt like Clifton would be a linebacker from the get go, just because of his athletic ability and the fact that we needed tall, rangy, fast guys to play the 'Jack' position, our hybrid outside linebacker/on-line guy," Jones commented.  "We didn't know how tough he would be or if it would work out, but that's where we thought he would be [on the field]."

"A lot of the small [NCAA] Division I schools including the HBCUs [historically black colleges and universities] wanted me to play quarterback, but [former assistant] coach [Dameyune] Craig — who recruited me here — told me that if I wanted a shot to play professionally and make money doing what I love to do that I would have to play on defense because of my body," said Crews.  "Once he told me that, he had me sold just thinking about a potential career, my family and coming to be a part of something special."


Once he arrived on campus for preseason camp and his first semester of classes Crews wasted little time in fulfilling Jones' vision.  Although he wouldn't start a game that fall, Crews led the squad with 3½ sacks and ranked second with seven stops behind the line — for a loss of 32 yards — while posting a total of 24 tackles.  His efforts helped the Jaguars go 7-0 in their first-ever season of competition, limiting the opposition to only 5.9 points and nearly 235 yards per contest.

Although he came in with limited experience defensively, Crews was not caught off guard by what he was able to accomplish as a true freshman.  "I wasn't surprised at all, I've been playing all my life and football is football," he said.  "I knew all I had to do was listen to whatever coach wanted me to do; I'm a quick learner, once I was taught how to take on and get off blocks I knew that I would be able to get to the ball."

As a redshirt freshman the following fall, he had just 12 tackles in 10 games but broke up six passes and intercepted another, and he also earned his first career start in a 45-6 victory over Missouri S&T.  Crews became a full-time starter in 2011, posting 35 tackles with five for loss, and a year ago he increased that total to a career-best 49 stops while once again making five tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

But following last fall, assistant head coach Bill Clark — the only defensive coordinator in the program's first four seasons — departed to become the head coach at Jacksonville State, leaving Crews and many other upperclassmen to learn a different system under three new assistants who joined the staff prior to the start of spring drills in February.

The new defensive staff had a chance to evaluate those individuals returning on film before ever stepping onto the practice field.  Freddie Roach — a Freshman All-American and two-time all-Southeastern Conference selection as a linebacker at Alabama from 2002-05 — would be overseeing Crews as the assistant in charge of defensive ends and outside linebackers.  What did he see when watching video of Crews?  "I saw an athletic kid with good size who could run and jump, move well and change direction, just a good overall talent for that position," Roach observed.  "Not only is Clifton athletic, but he's a team player who can play numerous positions.  That was my first evaluation of him."

Once he had a the opportunity to work with him on the field, it allowed Roach to develop goals for Crews entering his final season.

"I wanted him to be more of a leader, and I think he has stepped into that role," Roach said.  "Sometimes when you come into a program with a lot of seniors, it's not so much them adjusting to you as it is you adjusting to them, but our job is to get the best players on the field and find ways for them to be productive for our defense.  That was one of the goals I had for Clifton."

"In the offseason in the weight room I tried to step up a little more, and also do my own things outside of team activities whether it was on the practice field or in the weight room," Crews stated.  "I knew I needed to get bigger since the competition was stepping up and we are looking to also play in a bowl game.

"I did everything I did the past four years, but just stepped it up."

Not only did the staff raise expectations for Crews and the rest of the unit, but it put in place a new system that changed players' responsibilities.  A lot of times that would be a problem for a group that included juniors and seniors in their fourth and fifth years playing collegiately, but that has not been the case for the Jags thus far this season.

"It's been different, I've had to learn how to play in a scheme and not just play free," commented Crews.  "Coach Clark put us in a position where our athleticism let us make plays, but [assistant] coach [Kevin] Sherrer and coach Roach make you buy into their system no matter who you are, or how big or fast you are.  But if you play in their system, it's going to work."

"There is always room for improvement, especially when you go from a system like that to one where you know this is your job, your assignment, and you're held accountable for that," observed Roach.  "That would be an adjustment for anybody, but Cliff is doing well and continuing to get better, which is all you can ask.  He's working toward the goal that we have for him, which is to become the best team player he can be, be a leader and be able to play most positions.

"I wish we could have him for two or three more years, but we can't."


Crews is on track to earn his degree from South Alabama in December, leaving him little time from the end of the regular season — the Jags' last scheduled game is at home against Louisiana-Lafayette just one week prior to the school's Dec. 14 commencement ceremony — to make many arrangements.  But if there is one thing that is certain, it's that Crews will be on a football field somewhere as early as the spring season.

"I want to continue playing football as long as I can, and whenever that ends I still want to stay involved, I want to coach," he explained.  "I've been living football all my life and I want to be around it until the day I die.  One of my dreams is to be the head coach at my old high school."

"There's always a chance, although people forget that it is about .5 percent of guys who get the opportunity to do it," Roach said of Crews' aspirations to play professionally.  "Every day you go out to practice and do something that is football related — it's an interview, you're building a résumé.  Physically with his body type, could he?  I would say yes.  But usually what separates those guys from the thousands of other kids who play in college is the mental aspect of the game, how you approach the game and how you handle your business up until game time.

"It's not athleticism, it may be size in some instances, but for the most part it is how you handle your business to that point in regard to the mental aspect of the game."

When the day comes that he moves from the playing field to the sidelines, it's a path Jones can easily see Crews following.  "I know Clifton loves being around football, whether it's in the weight room or on the practice field," he said.  "It would be an admirable thing for him to do, I think he can have a great influence on players."

But, Jones always likes to caution those interested in joining the coaching ranks.

"I've had several guys over the last five years want to get into coaching, and they want to know how to do that and what's the path they should take.  I always tell them the way you start is by being a graduate assistant at a college — you get your master's degree, then you can either go down and coach high school or you can get into the college arena," he added.  "And I always ask them if they can do without it, and if they can then to not do it because it's a tough world.  We're up here on Sundays from seven in the morning until 10 o'clock at night, it's the same on Mondays, and you get off a little earlier on Tuesdays.  It's a grind, so you have to love it."


Can Crews believe that he is in his fifth and final season competing at the collegiate level?  Thanks to his outlook, the experience hasn't flown by like it has for so many others.

"Not really, because I have embraced every moment," he answered when asked if the his career has been too quick.  "When you let things go by and are just content, that's when things go by fast.  But when you're taking every moment in, taking time to learn something new and put it to use on the field every day, it really doesn't go by as fast as you think it would.

"It seems like it's been a long five years, but it was worth it."

Crews counts fellow fifth-year seniors Enrique Williams, Romelle Jones, Montavious Williams and Alex Page among his closest friends on campus.  The bond of being in the Jaguars' first-ever signing class and making it this far has played an important role in their development.  "We've always been real close.  I think we signed 35 that year, but there are only 12 of us left," Crews explained.  "People always see us together all the time.  We know a lot of guys made some wrong decisions or they weren't built for it, but we've made history here and can still do more like win a bowl game and a conference championship.

"We talk about making history all the time."

And can Crews still man the quarterback position?  He thinks in an emergency he is capable of handling the job.  "It's a natural instinct — I know how to take a snap, hand the ball off, I can throw a 10-yard pass," he explained.  But with five quarterbacks on the roster, it's not likely that situation will arise.

Which instead will allow Crews to focus on what he does best — continuing to disrupt opposing offenses with a size and skill set that has outgrown the quarterback position.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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