Coach's Corner: An Inside Look at Latest Tennessee Signee Jeremiah Crawford

Coach's Corner: An Inside Look at OL Jeremiah Crawford

Earlier today, Tennessee announced the signing of Junior College offensive tackle Jeremiah Crawford. Crawford signed his letter of intent in the office of his offensive line coach, Nate Haremza, who looked at him and said, "your life just changed forever." Haremza, a former standout at Butler County Community College, returned to coach the offensive line in the fall of 2018, and he has been alongside Crawford since. He offered an inside look at his journey, growth and development, and next opportunity at Tennessee. 

Haremza did not recruit Crawford, but he has been his position coach every step at the Junior College level. He said on the journey from then until now, "we red-shirted him his first season here. It was kind of a situation coming into that Spring after, he might pan out, but he didn't really take many steps forward during the fall as a red-shirt. About mid-way through Spring, watching him in the weight room and workouts, then we started to get into practices; it was about practice ten, he walked past my office, getting ready to leave, and I pulled him in and said, 'what has changed.'" 

"It was like he was a totally different person. He looked me square in the eyes and said, 'I bought into being an offensive lineman,'" Haremza continued. "As soon as he said that, I knew the road was just starting with him. There was a lot of talent in there, and when he bought into the life-style, he really turned the corner. Since then, he has done nothing but grow tremendously on the field every single season. The Fall, the Spring, right now, in all of our workouts, we just ran all of our conditioning tests last week, and he won every single one of them by four yards. It's not like he is going up against bad players; we've got two guys who are committed to UAB, it's not like they are just some random JuCo."

Haremza said on seeing Crawford off the field, "he is a great kid, great to have around, always has a smile on his face."

Haremza believes Crawford has only begun to scratch the surface of his potential. He said, "going forward, he is already a really good player, but he is not even close to where he could be. He is probably the most athletic tackle we've had here at Butler. He is very raw still. Mentally, physically, as an offensive lineman, he knows it. I try to teach him to learn the schemes and the game of football. Learn it here, and that way when you go to a Tennessee, you jump right in that big playbook, and you have a base foundation of what is going on. He has all of the talent in the world, and he could definitely be a Sunday player."

With the red-shirt season in 2018 and COVID pushing back the Junior College season until the Spring, Crawford has only played ten college games, something Haremza admittedly said he has to remind himself of. 

"The thing I even forget, the kid has only played ten games in college. He started those ten games at right tackle for us. He will move to left tackle for us this year. He takes practice seriously. He takes meetings seriously. He takes individuals seriously. He has never taken a rep off in individuals after his red-shirt year. It definitely shows."

Crawford will join Tennessee in the summer, and he will likely factor in at the tackle position right away. He will have three years of eligibility remaining. Below is video of Crawford discussing his commitment.