Crawford ready to anchor Penn State defense
Year after year the Penn State Nittany Lions have been known for their play on the defensive side of the ball.
After last season the Nittany Lions lost linebackers Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman, along with defensive lineman Jared Odrick to the NFL.
With three stars gone from last year's defense, junior defensive end Jack Crawford is ready to step up into a leadership role this year.
"I feel like I have the experience that I want to be a leader on the field," Crawford said.
A starter in every game last year, Crawford had 14.5 tackles for a loss and 5.5 sacks. The player, who hails from London, England, finds himself on the Bednarik Award watch list this year.
While Odrick, who was a first round pick by the Miami Dolphins this year, is gone on the other defensive end spot, Crawford has plenty of faith in the man who will replace him, Devon Still.
"He's one of the biggest players I've ever seen in my life. He's a tremendous player, a tremendous force. He learned from Jared [Odrick] and he's trying to take it to the next level. He's fast like Jared, strong like Jared so I don't think there's going to be any set-back."
The other spot in question coming into the year is linebacker, where Bowman and Lee are both gone from last year.
While the team will have new players stepping into the starting lineup, Crawford is confident guys like Bani Gbadyu, Nathan Stupar and Chris Colasanti will be successful.
"I honestly think we will have no drop back from the play we had last year," Crawford said. "We have a lot of depth at linebacker. I think all teams know that when they come up against Penn State, that's not going to be any walk in the park."
While Crawford had a strong season last year, he said he could never live up to what he expects of himself.
"I don't think I could ever live up to my expectations," he said. "My expectations are always set real high. I need to work to get off the block quicker against tackles. I just want to have the most sacks on the defensive line and I want to cause havoc in the backfield."
While Odrick may be gone, Crawford knows he learned a lot from his former teammate.
"Jared, he definitely left some big shoes to fill," Crawford said. "I definitely have some big shoes I have to try and fill. The biggest thing I learned from him was attitude. Just his attitude in everything he did in the games and in the meeting rooms.
"I learned just as much from him off the field as I did on the field. It's the little things I learned the most, like just getting off the ball. It seems so easy, but it's a big thing."
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