(Update) Hardaway alum Justin Crawford earns NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year

Former Hardaway standout Justin Crawford was named the National Junior College Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday.

"This is a huge honor for me," Crawford said in a news release from Northwest Mississippi Community College. "I'm really glad to see that all of the hard work has paid off. My teammates deserve a lot of credit for this award and I share it with them.

"I'm especially thankful for my coaches, offensive line and my quarterback for believing in me and putting me in this position to succeed. Northwest is a first-class institution and I can't thank the people here enough."

Crawford was named a first-team all-American earlier this week.

Crawford rushed for 1,610 yards on 248 carries and scored 16 touchdowns this season. He also caught 29 passes for 394 yards and six scores.

Crawford helped Northwest Mississippi won the NJCAA national championship, the program's third but first since 1992.

He finished his two-year career at Northwest with 15 school records, including rushing yards (3,161), rushing touchdowns (30) and all-purpose yards (3,993).

Crawford had 15 100-yard games for Northwest, including a school-record 338 yards and four touchdowns against Coahoma in 2014. He earned second-team all-America honors last season.

Crawford, who is 6-foot and 195 pounds, is listed as a 3-star recruit by the 247sports composite. According to 247sports, Crawford has offers from Arkansas, Louisville, Georgia Southern, South Alabama, Southern Miss, UAB and Utah. He was committed to Louisville while he was at Hardaway, but after the Cardinals' Charlie Strong left for Texas, Crawford withdrew his commitment.

Kevin Price, 706-320-4493. Follow Kevin on Twitter@lesports

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 5:16 PM with the headline "(Update) Hardaway alum Justin Crawford earns NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year ."