Friendships Mean the Most to Crow

Ex-Red Rider has no regrets about attending West Virginia University

By JIM ELLIOTT, W.Va. Sports Editor

MORGANTOWN - If attitude were a statistic, former Weir High standout Jack Crow might be the Most Valuable Player at West Virginia University.

Crow's been tucked away on the depth chart at slot receiver for five years now, long removed from his days as a record-setting, three-sport star for the Red Riders.

In his Mountaineers career, he's been in on 13 plays, which isn't even close to 1 percent of the total number of snaps during what is easily one of the best five-year stretches in the program's history.

His only stats remain his measurements (5-foot-10, 168), his hometown (Weirton, W.Va), his class (redshirt senior), and the one he cares about most (Athletic Director's Academic Honor Roll).

''The big thing for me is that school was always first,'' Crow said. ''Some of the other places, the smaller places I would have gone to, they don't really have a business school, or something that would fit me for after football. School was always important because I knew that I wasn't going to play football forever. I knew that there had to be something after that.''

Still, if Crow, a walk-on who always wanted to play on the biggest stage possible, has any regrets, you can't see them in his face or hear them in his voice.

''From Day 1, it's been hard. It's been harder than it would be for a regular or a scholarship athlete,'' he said. ''I'm definitely glad this is where I came and this is where I've been. It's not an easy thing to do. It takes a lot of time and effort, but I'm glad that I came.''

Frankly, at WVU, scholarship athletes have to sit and wait behind that guys that are in front of Crow - Jock Sanders and Tavon Austin.

''It's not something anybody wants to do, but it happens,'' Crow said. ''At the same time, not that you get used to it, but you're not mad at it because Jock's playing in front of you, and Jock's a ballplayer. Jock is that good. It doesn't upset me because I know there is somebody in front of me that is better than me, which is fine with me. But at the same time, that doesn't mean that you can't play. It helps that Jock is Jock.''

Indeed. Sanders leads the Big East in terms of catches per game among players still on active rosters, and is 15th nationally at 6.88 receptions per game.

West Virginia linebacker Reed Williams, one of 17 fifth-year seniors on the Mountaineers roster along with Crow, says just because guys like Crow don't fill the stat sheets doesn't mean they're not essential to the growth of a football team.

''I love Jack,'' Williams said. ''People don't realize how important guys like him are to a program. They're some of the most important players on our team, just because you don't see them a lot ... We're all rooting for those guys to get in there and get a chance some time.''

If and when opportunity knocks, Crow is always home.

''The thing that I've always tried to do is be ready for an opportunity, whether it be in practice, in camp, in the summer,'' Crow said. ''Whatever kind of opportunity you get, you have to take advantage of it. You start thinking about it, you better get yourself ready.''

Receiver Carmen Connolly is another player like Crow. He's a Pittsburgh native who played his high school ball at Seton-LaSalle, where he set a state record his senior year with 116 catches for 1,580 yards and 16 touchdowns, the eighth highest reception total nationally.

What has that gotten him at WVU? Well, he was the team's holder the final four games last season, and he's been in on a few offensive plays.

''Without Carm, I think this process would be a lot harder,'' Crow said. ''A lot harder. He's like a brother to me. I think the world of him. Our families are close now. Our parents have become friends. I can't say enough about him.''

Connolly is far from Crow's only friend on the team. Not even close.

''As your time winds down, you think about stuff like that more, what you'll take from it, what you'll remember from it,'' he said. ''You just cannot replace the relationships that you have with these guys. You can't. This time next year, I'm not going to see guys every day. Or every month, or every year, probably. That's the stuff I'll take, the stuff from the locker room and stuff on the trips. Just stuff people wouldn't know.''

Another ex-Red Rider, linebacker Zac Cooper, has been in Morgantown just as long as Crow has, though his playing time has been much more extensive as a third-down speed rushing specialist. They both left Weir High the year before the Red Riders won a state championship, twice being eliminated by Bluefield the years prior.

During the annual Gold-Blue game, Cooper and fellow linebacker Pat Lazear hit Crow, who had just caught a pass across the middle.

''Oh my gosh, that was the highlight of my spring right there,'' Cooper said at the time. ''I had a couple shots during my career here. I remember one time it was probably two or three years ago, I had a shot at him and I put my head down because I wanted to kill him, and I missed him. So, I took it a little easy on him.

''Jack's a great player ... He's got great hands, he never misses balls thrown to him. He's got good footwork.''

Yes, Crow remembers that play.

''That's the first - and the only time - that Cooper's ever hit me,'' Crow said. ''He's told me numerous times that he's seen me, and he's tried extra hard to hit me. So finally before we left, I had to let him get one lick in.

''Me and Zac been friends for a long time. Little League baseball. Just so long. Good friends. It's special to go through a process like this with somebody you've known your whole life.''

Crow's advice for similar high school players to him in that they want to take a shot at the big-time is simple. Don't necessarily listen to others. Follow your dreams.

''It's something that you won't know unless you try,'' he said. ''Could you go somewhere else and catch a lot more balls and play a lot more plays? I'm sure you could, or anybody could. But you never know unless you do it. Looking back, I don't know if I made the right choice, but it's the choice that I made. There's other guys here that are better. It's very simple. But that doesn't mean that you can't play. That's what you have to take from it.''