I want to post a happy thought first, so I’ll talk a little bit about a guy I’ve been missing this season.  Seeing Crabtree step out on the field again was a breath of fresh air for me regarding my pro football interest.  I never had any doubt the guy would succeed from the first snap, I just wanted to see if he was dominating yet. 

Over the last 2 decades, I’ve had the privilege of watching a lot of great college football players, most often at programs like UT, OU, A&M, Nebraska, etc……guys like Sam Adams, Eric Metcalf, Richmond Webb, Aaron Glenn, Ricky Williams, Vince Young, Cedric Benson, both Roy Williams’, Tommie Harris, Adrian Peterson, Tony Brackens, Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers, the list goes on and on.  Zach Thomas and Wes Welker are two of the most memorable, who donned Tech jerseys.  I mention this obviously as a setup to establish credibility in my conclusion that Crabtree was the best college football player I’ve ever seen play live.  I can’t make a statement like that without some sort of reasoning, so I’ll write about what I really think about the guy.

Texas and OU will typically have a minimum of 2 and maximum of 4 future NFL players in their secondary every season, or at least on the field in some defensive capacity.  They typically kick the shit out of us every season for that reason. They just have better players than us.  Every once in a while, we’ll land a Byron Hanspard and make the matchups interesting for 3 or 4 years, but it’s mostly groundhog day even in those cases.  In Crabtree’s 4 games (over 2 years) against TX and OU, we went 2-2 which just doesn’t really happen very often at Tech.  Crabtree’s stats you ask in those 4 games?  37 catches for 538 yards and 4 TDs.  I’ll provide the average of 135 yards a game for you and assume you can do the TD math.  This also includes a 6 catch, 62 yard performance in a blowout loss to OU with a broken foot and triple bracket coverage.  In the 3 games he was healthy, the average jumps to 159 yards and almost 2 TDs. 

I always got a kick out of when a Big 12 North fan would start bragging about their shutdown corner prior to games and end with some comment like “So at a minimum, we should be able to contain him.”  I guess if you define “containing” as 175 yards and 3 TDs, then mission accomplished.  We won more games in Crabtree’s tenure at Tech than any other two year period in the program’s history and it’s because we had the best player on the field in every one of those contest.  And he knew he was that good.  His athleticism was only exceeded by his desire to win.

San Franciso 49er fans haven’t yet figured out exactly what they’ve got their hands on, but Crabtree’s teammates are already getting the picture.  Crabtree doesn’t pay attention to names on jerseys and they’ll be surprised at well the offense starts clicking as his targets go up.  The guy seemed like a shoe-in to make a play in one-on-one scenarios 9 out of 10 times and about 6 out of 10 in double coverage in every game I watched.  When he starts getting 12 targets versus 6, he’ll have 10 catches instead of 5 and one of those he’ll break for a game-changing play.  And what I mean by that, is after he does it, teams will be forced to start defending the 49er offense differently, opening things up for quality players like Frank Gore and Vernon Davis.  Dude is not scared and I never had thoughts of Jeremy Maclin when the ball was in his hands.  Adrian Peterson seemed more appropriate. 

A world-class athlete with a self-motivating desire that burns like a case of the Filipino Clap to be regarded as the best to ever play.  Don’t underestimate what this kid can do as he polishes up on the finer details of the pro game.   He was motivated at Tech for getting shunned by the big programs.  He’s pissed off and motivated for dropping to #10 in the draft.  It doesn’t matter to him who else is on your roster.  Crabtree honestly believes that he will win every time he steps on the field and it’s infectious throughout the locker room.  Guys on his team play harder just for the opportunity to get the ball in his hands one more time and willingly submit to their new title of role player.  I can’t explain why they do it, but ask anyone who ever played with or against him and they know.  I’ll provide Josh Morgan as an example.  Crabtree lives and breathes this game and outworked every player I’ve ever seen him face.  You’re only seeing the beginning and he’s got whatever it is all the great ones have.  I’ve never seen a more competitive person in live action.