Illinois Football: James Crawford is a chameleon on the football field

The Illinois football team continues to develop under head coach Lovie Smith.

This program has been through a lot over the last two years, and there has been a multitude of players who have been in the trenches the entire time. But, one player who continues to be a chameleon is James Crawford.

Crawford signed his National Letter of Intent back in 2013 when Tim Beckman was fresh on the scene. He was a member of Beckman’s inaugural class. Despite playing for the prestigious St. Thomas Aquinas High School, he wasn’t highly rated only coming in as a two-star according to Scout.

The first year Crawford was in Beckman’s system he was redshirted. This was the right move because he still had a lot of room to grow and learn at the college level. The following season Beckman started to use Crawford more, but mainly on special teams.

Crawford was looking to really start making some progress in his redshirt sophomore campaign but a week before the season started Beckman was fired. This really started a six-month span of turmoil in his career as a player.

Illinois entered the 2015 season with Bill Cubit as an interim head coach, so Crawford was still used how he would have been in the Beckman system. He had a chance to play in every game that season and even started four times at the STAR position. This is a combination of safety and linebacker, depending on the defensive set.

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During the 2015 campaign, Crawford did rack up some solid stats. He managed to total 36 tackles in which four of those were for a loss. He also had two pass deflections and one forced fumble.

More turmoil struck in Crawford’s career as athletic director Mike Thomas was fired three games before the season ended. Just three weeks later, Cubit was given a two-year contract to remain the Illinois head coach and to create a sense of stability within the program.

About two months after Cubit was given a two-year deal, Illinois hired Josh Whitman as the new athletic director. He then fired Cubit on March 5, 2016. Three days later, on March 8, 2016, he hired Lovie Smith to be the next head coach of the Illinois football team.

In the middle of all of this Crawford was still trying to improve as a player. Lovie’s system was a little more different than Beckman’s and Cubit’s system. He decided to move Crawford into a full-time linebacker role.

Lovie was just trying to figure out what he had on the football field in year one. Moving Crawford to linebacker made sense because he has the size and speed that could be dangerous.

Crawford finished the 2016 season with 18 total tackles in which one of those was for a loss. He also had a fumble recovery as well. This all happened while playing in eight games and starting three times at linebacker for the Illini.

Illinois is now heading into the 2017 season with hopes of being a better team. They finished last season 3-9 and making a bowl game would be a big accomplishment. One of the improvements Lovie made in the offseason and spring practice is moving Crawford to defensive end.

This will now be the fourth official position Crawford has had in the four years he has played for the Illini. This kid is so versatile that he can literally play just about every position on the field. Now Lovie is asking him to replace a defensive end who is going to be drafted into the NFL come April.

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Crawford will get his chance to shine on the end of the defensive line. This is an interesting move for the Illini and one that I am excited to see pan out. Crawford has an amazing athletic ability and he could be extremely dangerous in the Big Ten.

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