High School Sports

Isaiah Crowell talks second chances and achieving dreams

By DAVID MITCHELL - dmitchell@ledger-enquirer.com

Most area football fans already know the story of former Carver running back Isaiah Crowell’s rise to Southeastern Conference stardom and subsequent fall at the University of Georgia.

The arrest for carrying a weapon in a school zone on Georgia’s campus in June 2012 and his ensuing departure from the school is well-publicized information. The rest of the story — the two years at Alabama State between his exit from Georgia and his impressive rookie season with the Cleveland Browns in 2014 — is not.

Crowell wanted to share that story

On Tuesday, the man who rushed for 607 yards and 9 touchdowns as an undrafted rookie last season, visited his former schools — Dawson Elementary, Rothschild Middle and Carver High — to speak with the students about work ethic, responding to adversity and achieving dreams. They are three subjects the 22-year-old is very familiar with.

“The main thing (I wanted to tell the students) is really just to listen,” he said. “Listen to the people that care about you — the parents and teachers and coaches — because they’re not going to tell you wrong. And basically, just keep your nose clean because I don’t want to see anyone go through what I went through.”

After his departure from Georgia, Crowell hitched on with Alabama State of the Football Championship Subdivision. In two seasons, he rushed for nearly 2,000 yards and 30 touchdowns, earning an invite to the 2014 NFL combine. Despite the success, he was passed over in favor of 22 other running backs and went undrafted in the NFL draft. He was later signed to a rookie free agent deal by the Cleveland Browns, made the roster and had immediate success.

His mom, Debbie, said she always had a feeling he’d make it to the game’s highest level. She just didn’t know when. His growth and maturity off the field had to catch up with his enormous physical ability.

“He had to discipline himself, and then everything else will follow,” she said. “I was mostly proud of how he picked himself up and kept moving forward and didn’t look back. It’s not how you fail, it’s how you get back and move forward.”

That was a common theme on Tuesday.

Not everybody makes it to the NFL, Crowell said. Even fewer people can make mistakes, get dismissed from a premier football program and still have what it takes to achieve their dreams. They are unnecessary obstacles to an already difficult dream.

But he also wanted the students to know that people make mistakes, and when they do it comes down to how they respond. His message was to use adversity as an opportunity to grow.

“It did hurt me a lot, but it helped me also for the simple fact that it made me mature,” he said. “I had a second chance and I had to take full advantage of it to be who I wanted to be.”

“You’ve got to make good decisions or you could very well lose everything you’ve worked hard for,” Debbie said. “Isaiah’s whole story, it lets them know that, hey, if I grab hold of myself, I can be successful.”

The message was lighter at the younger schools. He told students at Dawson to listen to their teachers, three of whom are the same individuals who taught him. Fifth-grade teacher Burma Williams shared a memory of how she had to get on to a young Crowell when he was in her class.

She had a stick they had named Bruno, she said.

“And each time he got into a little bit of trouble, I’d give him a tap-tap on the hip and there wouldn’t be any more trouble,” she said.

Crowell shared memories of the time he brought back failing grades on his report card, after which his mom made him cut his hair — which now reaches the middle of his back — and miss his football game.

The young students laughed at the thought of a short-haired Crowell and listened as he explained how even if they didn’t think school was fun, it was important to work as hard in the classroom as on the football field.

At the high school, he was more frank. Speaking to a crowd that included athletes, many of whom will go off to play major Division-I football and may have a chance to join him in the NFL one day, he shared the bad memory of the phone call he made to his mom when he knew his opportunity with the Bulldogs was finished after one season.

“It was difficult, just because my mom, she raised me good, you know,” Crowell explained. “So, for me to go and have a mistake like that — she was just taken aback because she knew that wasn’t me. It was hard for me to call her and say that because I know it was a disappointment.”

For those high school football players, the message was more immediate, and he hopes he sees others fulfill their dreams and join him in the league down the line.

“Just listen to your coaches,” he told them. “Practice, do your work in the classroom. If you do that, the game is going to come to you.”

Highlights from his day

This story was originally published February 24, 2015 at 9:18 AM with the headline "Isaiah Crowell talks second chances and achieving dreams."

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