Thanks to special teams efforts, Kitan Crawford sees his NFL draft stock rise per the Senior Bowl's Jim Nagy
Each week, On3’s Matt Zenitz catches up with Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Senior Bowl. Nagy offers insight into which college players caught his highly-trained eye during the previous weekend’s contests, which usually entails that others who work for one of the 32 NFL franchises have similar thoughts.
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This week, Texas defensive back Kitan Crawford was one of the nine players who Nagy told Zenitz generated buzz thanks to a strong week two performance in Texas’ 34-24 win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Crawford, a senior defensive back from Tyler (Texas) High, had five tackles versus the Crimson Tide on Saturday. However, his play on the Longhorns’ opening drive stood out most. Crawford kept a Ryan Sanborn punt from reaching the end zone, backing the Crimson Tide up in its first drive of the game. Jalen Milroe would throw an interception later in the series, and the Longhorns would garner three points on the resulting drive.
Here’s what Zenitz wrote about Crawford, including feedback from Nagy on how the East Texas product could make an impact in the league.
Crawford recorded five tackles during Texas’ 34-24 win over over Alabama. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Crawford played in 11 games for the Longhorns last year with one start. He finished last season with 25 tackles.
“Crawford was a guy whose practice energy got our attention three weeks ago when we visited Austin,” Nagy said. “Spoke to his safeties coach, former Texas star player Blake Gideon, during pre-game and he thinks Crawford will get drafted and make a 53-man NFL roster based off his special teams prowess alone and we agree with him. Crawford made an immediate impact on the first punt of the game, showing off his 10.6 100-meter speed to save a ball from going into the end zone and forced Alabama to start its opening drive at the 3-yard line.
“Played more on defense than we’ve seen in many games and stood out with his closing burst, both as a run defender and blitzer. Came fast from depth on one blitz and forced Tide QB Jalen Millroe to step up in the pocket for a sack. NFL teams are looking to find proven special teams aces in rounds 5-7 and Crawford will be one of those guys this year. He has logged over 600 special teams snaps over his Texas career with 100+ on all four units (102 kick return, 277 kickoff, 130 punt return, 101 punt).”
Other Longhorns have become special teams contributors on NFL rosters. Adrian Phillips earned First-Team All-Pro honors in 2018 for his special teams exploits with the Chargers, and Brenden Schooler is on the New England Patriots roster mostly due to his work done in the third phase.
Crawford has appeared in 35 career games and has 44 tackles with one tackle for loss and a blocked kick.
