Lzen
07-16-2008, 11:08 AM
Since the subject came up in another thread, I did some searching and found this. Not that this proves or disproves anything. However, I think it just goes to show that there is always more to the story than what you see in the news. I also read on another BB that the girl never reported to court. Is this like the Duke LaCrosse players thing? I don't know. Could very well be like that.
Second chance? Kansas giving Crawford shot at redemption
<table class="storyHeader" style="" http:="" images.sportsline.com="" images="" authors-318x86="" 257.jpg="" target="_blank"><tbody><tr> <td class="storyInfo" style="padding-left: 95px;" valign="top"> April 15, 2008
By Dennis Dodd (http://www.sportsline.com/columns/writers/dodd)
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
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LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Outside of John Parchman's office in a small West Texas town, a diligent student shows up for another round of tutoring.
"He sits at a table every day with my wife," said the Cisco (Texas) Junior College coach, "and we learn college algebra."
<table width="175" align="left" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td width="175"> http://images.sportsline.com/u/photos/football/college/img10781132.jpg </td> <td width="15"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="175"> Some think Kansas' Jocques Crawford got a raw deal. (Provided to CBSSports.com) </td> <td width="15"> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> The use of the plural personal pronoun is fitting in the case of Jocques Crawford. He is one of us. Just a kid who loves football. A kid who became a flawed local legend. A soaring success and an American tragedy, ultimately having to scrape for a second chance.
The Kansas football program is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Cisco running back and national junior college player of the year in the fall. He is on track to graduate in May. Diane Parchman, a retired 30-year teaching veteran, is a small part of his support group. It extends here to Kansas (http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/teams/page/KS), where Crawford is the jewel of Mark Mangino's recruiting class with the program coming off a 12-win, Orange Bowl season.
There is also curiosity because, for the rest of his life, Crawford will have to answer questions about being charged with felony aggravated rape in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn., in 2005. Crawford eventually pled guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor simple assault in an incident allegedly involving himself, a 15-year-old girl and three other boys. Newspapers reported that a 15-year-old girl told police she was forced to perform oral sex on the boys.
At first it looks like Kansas is taking quite a chance, trying to maintain the momentum created by a monster season, desperately trying to replace bruising tailback Brandon McAnderson.
Then you look into the eyes of Lew Perkins. Kansas' athletic director is a smart and powerful man in the world of college athletics. That Bill Self-to-Oklahoma State thing? A futile exercise for headline writers, it turned out. In the middle of the national championship celebration in San Antonio, Perkins focused those eyes on a reporter who asked about Self going to Stillwater. Perkins said confidently, "We'll be fine."
Three days later, Self agreed to a long-term contract and sizable pay increase.
"I'm a firm believer in giving a kid a second chance, but you have to feel good that it's going to happen," Perkins said of Crawford. "We went everywhere, to everybody -- the prosecutor, the coaches. We hired somebody to check him out for us, a lawyer who is a friend of mine. I met the kid. I felt really good about him.
"We talked to ... anybody who would talk to us. Everybody said, 'This is a good kid.'"
That's the thing. You can't find anyone to say anything bad about Crawford. Terre Fratesi, the prosecutor in the case, did not return a call asking her to explain why Crawford was allowed to plead down. Crawford originally signed with Texas Tech out of high school but did not qualify academically. The player was quoted as saying his background was, "no big deal," to Red Raiders coach Mike Leach who, through a spokesman, did not want to comment for this story.
Some go further than Perkins. Crawford is more than a good kid. He was the victim.
"It's really unfortunate because it ruined (his reputation)," said John Dowtin, the head coach at Cordova High in Memphis where Crawford starred.
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"I'll tell anybody any time, if I had a daughter, if she wanted to date him, I wouldn't have any problem with it. I love Jocques."
Dowtin told a sordid tale of the girl, a minor, wanting to date Crawford. There was evidence in the form of a text message, Dowtin said, that read: If you won't date me, I'll tell everyone you raped me.
"That right there, should have closed the whole deal," Dowtin said.
Since the case never came to trial and the girl was never identified, we will never know. But Crawford was suspended for five games of his senior season at Cordova. The misdemeanor plea allowed him to return to school and play football. He was sentenced to supervised probation. Even with that, there are some who contend the case never would have made it to trial. The evidence that Dowtin referred to was too overwhelming in Crawford's favor.
The coach was so incensed by the invective against Kansas on a Kansas State message board he reminded posters that their school once recruited Marcus Raines. The former JUCO linebacker pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter before eventually signing with Southern Miss. Dowtin went so far as to post his phone number so he could explain Crawford's situation to Wildcats fans. One poster called him.
"He said, 'Hey, I was just writing what I heard,'" Dowtin said. "I said, 'What you heard was wrong.'"
Still, opposing fans at Crawford's basketball games would chant "rapist!" Previously fawning recruiters stopped calling. It probably didn't help his cause that Jocques' dad Xavier, a former Memphis football legend known as "X-Man", has been arrested at least 16 times. When Crawford didn't qualify academically, rebuilding his rep at Cisco -– in a town of 4,000 -– was one of his few options.
"When you coach JUCO football you see the hoodlums come through," Parchman added. "That's not the way this is. I'd stake my 37 years of coaching experience on it.
"He'll still tear up when you talk about it. This is something that won't go away. You can tell the story two or three different ways. I choose to listen to the story he tells."
Crawford quietly became the best junior college player in the country last season. His 1,935 yards were the most by a National Junior College Athletic Association running back since 2000. Dowtin has two former Cordova players in the NFL. He says Crawford could be better than either of them. Parchman compares his back to Cedric Benson, who he coached at Midland (Texas) Lee High School. Benson went on to become a star at Texas before going to the NFL.
Texas Tech called again during the last recruiting season when it became apparent Crawford was succeeding in junior college. They wanted him as a safety, which Dowtin thinks is still the player's best position. Crawford, though, wanted to play tailback. That dialogue ended quickly. Jocques would have had to battle his brother Aaron, already in the program as a Texas Tech tailback.
The Cisco Kid hopes to be far enough away at Kansas to carve out a new rep. Parchman spent a couple of days this week trying to get Crawford to a phone to speak to a reporter. It never happened.
"He's scared," Parchman said.
Scared about talking about his past, maybe, but not himself. Crawford is confident, bordering on cocky, according to those who know him best.
"Not to knock any of the players that they have there now at the same position but (Kansas) needed a back with experience," Crawford told the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
All righty, then. That should excite fans, if not sit well with the Jayhawks' leading returning rusher, Jake Sharp who, Crawford said, "had his weaknesses."
"I believe in giving a person a chance," Mangino said, "but you have to prove you deserve a chance."
Hasn't Jocques Crawford made it clear? That's all he wants. A second chance.
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/10781112/2
Second chance? Kansas giving Crawford shot at redemption
<table class="storyHeader" style="" http:="" images.sportsline.com="" images="" authors-318x86="" 257.jpg="" target="_blank"><tbody><tr> <td class="storyInfo" style="padding-left: 95px;" valign="top"> April 15, 2008
By Dennis Dodd (http://www.sportsline.com/columns/writers/dodd)
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
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LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Outside of John Parchman's office in a small West Texas town, a diligent student shows up for another round of tutoring.
"He sits at a table every day with my wife," said the Cisco (Texas) Junior College coach, "and we learn college algebra."
<table width="175" align="left" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td width="175"> http://images.sportsline.com/u/photos/football/college/img10781132.jpg </td> <td width="15"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="175"> Some think Kansas' Jocques Crawford got a raw deal. (Provided to CBSSports.com) </td> <td width="15"> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> The use of the plural personal pronoun is fitting in the case of Jocques Crawford. He is one of us. Just a kid who loves football. A kid who became a flawed local legend. A soaring success and an American tragedy, ultimately having to scrape for a second chance.
The Kansas football program is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Cisco running back and national junior college player of the year in the fall. He is on track to graduate in May. Diane Parchman, a retired 30-year teaching veteran, is a small part of his support group. It extends here to Kansas (http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/teams/page/KS), where Crawford is the jewel of Mark Mangino's recruiting class with the program coming off a 12-win, Orange Bowl season.
There is also curiosity because, for the rest of his life, Crawford will have to answer questions about being charged with felony aggravated rape in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn., in 2005. Crawford eventually pled guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor simple assault in an incident allegedly involving himself, a 15-year-old girl and three other boys. Newspapers reported that a 15-year-old girl told police she was forced to perform oral sex on the boys.
At first it looks like Kansas is taking quite a chance, trying to maintain the momentum created by a monster season, desperately trying to replace bruising tailback Brandon McAnderson.
Then you look into the eyes of Lew Perkins. Kansas' athletic director is a smart and powerful man in the world of college athletics. That Bill Self-to-Oklahoma State thing? A futile exercise for headline writers, it turned out. In the middle of the national championship celebration in San Antonio, Perkins focused those eyes on a reporter who asked about Self going to Stillwater. Perkins said confidently, "We'll be fine."
Three days later, Self agreed to a long-term contract and sizable pay increase.
"I'm a firm believer in giving a kid a second chance, but you have to feel good that it's going to happen," Perkins said of Crawford. "We went everywhere, to everybody -- the prosecutor, the coaches. We hired somebody to check him out for us, a lawyer who is a friend of mine. I met the kid. I felt really good about him.
"We talked to ... anybody who would talk to us. Everybody said, 'This is a good kid.'"
That's the thing. You can't find anyone to say anything bad about Crawford. Terre Fratesi, the prosecutor in the case, did not return a call asking her to explain why Crawford was allowed to plead down. Crawford originally signed with Texas Tech out of high school but did not qualify academically. The player was quoted as saying his background was, "no big deal," to Red Raiders coach Mike Leach who, through a spokesman, did not want to comment for this story.
Some go further than Perkins. Crawford is more than a good kid. He was the victim.
"It's really unfortunate because it ruined (his reputation)," said John Dowtin, the head coach at Cordova High in Memphis where Crawford starred.
<table class="buttonCnt" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td>
</td><td>
</td><td>
</td><td>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
"I'll tell anybody any time, if I had a daughter, if she wanted to date him, I wouldn't have any problem with it. I love Jocques."
Dowtin told a sordid tale of the girl, a minor, wanting to date Crawford. There was evidence in the form of a text message, Dowtin said, that read: If you won't date me, I'll tell everyone you raped me.
"That right there, should have closed the whole deal," Dowtin said.
Since the case never came to trial and the girl was never identified, we will never know. But Crawford was suspended for five games of his senior season at Cordova. The misdemeanor plea allowed him to return to school and play football. He was sentenced to supervised probation. Even with that, there are some who contend the case never would have made it to trial. The evidence that Dowtin referred to was too overwhelming in Crawford's favor.
The coach was so incensed by the invective against Kansas on a Kansas State message board he reminded posters that their school once recruited Marcus Raines. The former JUCO linebacker pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter before eventually signing with Southern Miss. Dowtin went so far as to post his phone number so he could explain Crawford's situation to Wildcats fans. One poster called him.
"He said, 'Hey, I was just writing what I heard,'" Dowtin said. "I said, 'What you heard was wrong.'"
Still, opposing fans at Crawford's basketball games would chant "rapist!" Previously fawning recruiters stopped calling. It probably didn't help his cause that Jocques' dad Xavier, a former Memphis football legend known as "X-Man", has been arrested at least 16 times. When Crawford didn't qualify academically, rebuilding his rep at Cisco -– in a town of 4,000 -– was one of his few options.
"When you coach JUCO football you see the hoodlums come through," Parchman added. "That's not the way this is. I'd stake my 37 years of coaching experience on it.
"He'll still tear up when you talk about it. This is something that won't go away. You can tell the story two or three different ways. I choose to listen to the story he tells."
Crawford quietly became the best junior college player in the country last season. His 1,935 yards were the most by a National Junior College Athletic Association running back since 2000. Dowtin has two former Cordova players in the NFL. He says Crawford could be better than either of them. Parchman compares his back to Cedric Benson, who he coached at Midland (Texas) Lee High School. Benson went on to become a star at Texas before going to the NFL.
Texas Tech called again during the last recruiting season when it became apparent Crawford was succeeding in junior college. They wanted him as a safety, which Dowtin thinks is still the player's best position. Crawford, though, wanted to play tailback. That dialogue ended quickly. Jocques would have had to battle his brother Aaron, already in the program as a Texas Tech tailback.
The Cisco Kid hopes to be far enough away at Kansas to carve out a new rep. Parchman spent a couple of days this week trying to get Crawford to a phone to speak to a reporter. It never happened.
"He's scared," Parchman said.
Scared about talking about his past, maybe, but not himself. Crawford is confident, bordering on cocky, according to those who know him best.
"Not to knock any of the players that they have there now at the same position but (Kansas) needed a back with experience," Crawford told the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
All righty, then. That should excite fans, if not sit well with the Jayhawks' leading returning rusher, Jake Sharp who, Crawford said, "had his weaknesses."
"I believe in giving a person a chance," Mangino said, "but you have to prove you deserve a chance."
Hasn't Jocques Crawford made it clear? That's all he wants. A second chance.
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/10781112/2