NFL Draft: Michael Crabtree, Interview With SF 49ers New Receiver

 

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After a bit of suspense that saw Texas Tech Wide Receiver Michael Crabtree fall to the Oakland Raiders at the 7th pick in the NFL Draft, he was finally selected number 10 by the San Francisco 49ers and then joined us in the Interview Room for a lot of questions all over the place in subject. Here's the interview on video:



To his credit, Crabtree handled it all very well, saying that he's not familar with the San Francisco Bay Area or San Francisco itself, but he has met and does have a great relationship with the Niners legendary receiver Jerry Rice, having met him at Deion Sanders home in Dallas. He likes and is looking forward to playing for head coach Mike Singletary, and Crabtree observed the coach wants you "just to work hard".

The hard work ethic is no stranger to Crabtree, who's preparation habits and focus led to one of the most amazing plays in College Football history, a stirring 32 yard catch and run against then-number-one-ranked Texas that scored a touchdown and led to a shocking upset of the heavily-favored Longhorns last year. It was that catch which put Crabtree and Texas Tech in the public spotlight and elevated his draft status.

Now he's a 49er.

(Photo credit: Bill Chackhes) 

In the Interview Room,Crabtree never stopped smiling. His mother and about 20 people, family and friends, all came downstairs to see his first official interview as an NFL player. His mother was just plain relieved to see it all end, as she told me as she slumped down into a random seat with a drained look. The ordeal of where her son was going was over.

Michael Crabtree Quote Sheet From The NFL:

MICHAEL CRABTREE


(on the city of San Franciscco): It has great weather. I can't wait to play football in that weather.


(on playing in San Francisco instead of Oakland): I feel like I'm in the position where if somebody wants me and needs me, I just can't wait to play.


(on SF QB situation): I have no idea. As soon as I get there I'm looking forward to working hard with all these guys and try to make each other better.


(on his draft day wait): The key to this situation is being patient. I feel like I did that my whole life and can't go wrong.


(on Mike Singletary): Mike Singletary is a great coach. He's a good guy. He's very positive. The main thing he wants you to do is work and make the program better.


(on whether he wanted to be picked earlier): I'm just glad I got picked. This is a true blessing.


(on the adjustment to the NFL): It's a big adjustment. It's a challenge. It's going to take a lot of film watching and play watching. A lot of practice and running on the field. I'm looking forward to that.


(on if he feels he was the best receiver in the draft even though he wasn't the first selected): I always feel like I'm the best. I work to be the best. I have some big shoes to fill when I go to the 49ers with Jerry Rice. I'm looking forward to that too.


(on the pre-draft speculation): I'm one of those guys that really doesn't watch TV at all. The only way I know is if one of my little brothers tells me about it. Whatever they say I just feed it into motivation.


(on what he will say to the governor of California if they meet): Well, I was trying to see him while I was down there. But I’ll tell him: "I'll be back"


(on why he was not the top receiver picked): I still feel like I'm the top receiver. I don't really pay any attention to what everyone else does. He's a good receiver, the person who went ahead of me. I choose not to worry about that.


(on three people from Dallas in the top 10): That's a good deal. It's never happened in history. The top 10, three people from Dallas. I bet Dallas is going crazy right now. I can't wait to go back.


(on his football idol growing up): My football idol was Barry Sanders. I loved Barry Sanders. I loved Deion Sanders, too. There's something about these Sanders guys.


(on comparisons to Jerry Rice): It's a privilege to be compared to Jerry Rice. He's a great player, if not the best receiver to play the game. I just take all of that in and I listen very well to what they say about comparing me to all these different receivers. I'm just going to take it and run with it and try to get better every day.


(on if he has friends in the San Francisco area): I don't have any friends out there. I've talked to Vernon [Davis] a couple times, but I'm looking forward to meeting new people.


(on meeting Jerry Rice): He's a good guy. Behind the scenes, we mainly don't talk about football. We talk about the off-the-field things. And he just told me to keep a level head.




(on what he will miss most about Texas): Texas football! There's nothing like Texas football. It's probably the best football you can play.




(on his foot surgery): I will be 110%. My doctor told me I could start running. But he told me to wait until one of these teams picked me.




(on if he feels extra motivation to play against the teams that didn't select him): I really do. I keep all of that in mind. Like I said, I feel like I'm in a situation where someone wants me and needs me. And I can't wait to put this red, black, and gold on.


(on if Graham Harrell is underestimated by NFL teams): Graham Harrell is a football player. When I was working, he was working with me. He threw all the passes to me when I was working hard, so I know he's a hard worker. Anybody who gets him is going to get a steal. He’s going to progress every year. So I'm looking forward to seeing where he goes.

The Crabtree Zone has a great bio, which I repeat here for information junkies..like me:

Michael Crabtree (born September 14, 1987 in Dallas, Texas) is a college football wide receiver for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He has received much recognition as one of the nation’s most prolific wide receivers, including being a 2007 unanimous first-team All-American and the winner of the 2007 Biletnikoff and Paul Warfield Awards, which are given to the nation’s top college receiver.

High school

Crabtree attended David W. Carter High School in Dallas and played quarterback for the football team. As a senior, he passed for 870 yards and eleven touchdowns on 45 completions out of 100 attempts. He also ran for 646 yards and nine touchdowns on 100 carries. He was a four-star football recruit as an athlete.

In addition to playing football in high school, Michael Crabtree was also on the basketball team and ranked among the top 50 recruits going into college. During a visit in 2004, Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight asked Crabtree which sport he was going to choose. Though the decision was not an easy one, he opted to play college football exclusively.

Crabtree was offered football scholarships by Baylor, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Kansas. He was also offered a scholarship by Texas Tech, which he ultimately chose to accept.

Freshman season

Michael Crabtree redshirted his freshman season of 2006.

In 2007, Crabtree started his redshirt-freshman season against SMU. The Red Raiders won 49–9, and Crabtree stood out with 106 yards receiving on twelve receptions for three touchdowns. The next week, in a 45–31 win over UTEP, Crabtree continued his performance with 15 receptions, 188 yards, and two touchdowns. Against the Rice Owls, Crabtree put up 244 yards on eleven receptions for three touchdowns. In Tech’s first loss of the season, against Oklahoma State, he had 14 receptions for 237 yards and three touchdowns. In a 75–7 win over Northwestern State, Crabtree had 145 yards on eight receptions for three touchdowns in only two and a half quarters of playing time. In the contest against Iowa State, Crabtree had 10 receptions for 154 yards and three touchdowns. During that game, Crabtree broke the season record for most touchdown receptions by a freshman receiver. The previous record of 14 was shared by Jabar Gaffney in 2000, Mike Williams in 2002, and Davone Bess in 2005. In the October 14, 2007 game, Crabtree tacked on 170 more receiving yards on eight receptions but had no touchdowns in a 35–7 win over the Texas A&M Aggies. This brought his total yardage to 1,244. In the next game, against Missouri, he again did not score but still added 76 more yards on ten catches. In spite of having two consecutive games without a touchdown, CBS Sports still ranked Crabtree as the top freshman in the nation.

During the game against Colorado, Crabtree made his 99th catch. This set three records simultaneously—most single-season receptions by a freshman in I-A, most single-season receptions by a Red Raider, and most single-season touchdowns by a Big 12 player (18).

Sophomore season

Before the beginning of his sophomore season, CBS Sports listed Crabtree as a Heisman hopeful. Tech quarterback Graham Harrell’s name also appeared on the list.

Recognition

Michael Crabtree has received multiple honors. In addition to being a unanimous first-team All-American, he won the Biletnikoff Award and the Paul Warfield Award.

NFL Draft: Matt Stafford, Michael Crabtree, Stupid Salary Questions

 

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I'm in New York for the NFL Draft and its related events, one of them was held Friday, and called NFL Play 60 in Central Park. This fun affair on a sun-drenched day served as the backdrop for media interviews with the nine top college football players invited by the league to attend the draft.

Given that many of the reporters, bloggers, and columnists were not experiencing their first rodeo, as the saying goes, one would think the questions would be good ones. Well, not at all. In fact some of the most seasoned writers asked the stupidest questions and Georgia Quarterback Matt Stafford and Texas Tech Wide Receiver Michael Crabtree had to deal with them.

Without naming names, there are two gentlemen in my video who fall into that category. They were fixated on asking about something that doesn't even exist: the rookie salary cap. There's a school of thought advanced by these writers and some NFL players that there should be such a limit on what first-year NFL players make. But since the cap doesn't exist, and therefore doesn't impact this year's players, why raise the issue with them?

That bit of logic was beyond the reach of our fearless journalist-type heroes. They pressed on with the question and it only served to show how well-adjusted Stafford and Crabtree were as people, especially at their young place in life. When Stafford, who appears to be headed to the Detroit Lions as their first pick as of Friday night, got the question, he deflected it, saying in so many words, "Ask the Commissioner." Crabstree looked at the questioner as if he were from another planet - it's on the video - then said "I feel like what I do is fun. I'm blessed to be here" to which the reporter said sarcastically "We're all blessed to be here" in one of those moments that answers the question "Why are newspapers dying?" It had nothing to do with the real subject at hand: the new NFL rookies at the event and what they were all about.

When the question bottle spun to me, or really when I made it do so, I wanted to know who these guys were and the best way to determine that is how they treat you when you ask a question about how they handle relationship difficulties. More to the point, are their friends treating them differently since fame and the possibility of fortune came on to them?

Stafford said he had the same friends throughout the affair. Crabtree said he kept a tight circle of family and friends long ago. An interesting difference as Crabtree seemed more prepared for the ills of the process and the ups and downs, were Stafford is more laid back about the whole deal and in a way almost "Brett Farve" like in his country-boy attitude. I suppose both schools of thought work but we shall see as they grow in the NFL.

Stafford's Favorite Passes

As to "favorite" passes Matt Stafford likes to throw, he thought long and hard before answering "skinny post" which should be a tip to the Lions braintrust as they plans the teams passing game. Stafford also seemed determined not to be molded by the expectations of others. For example, one reporter asked about how he would deal with making "all that money"; Stafford offered that he'd never seen that amount of money to know! A great, simple action!

Crabtree Was "In A Daze For Texas Catch"

Michael Crabtree, one who's not a fan of passing game systems but of solid play ("Everyone has a system; the whole thing's overblown", he told me) is known for a jaw-dropping, quick-as-light catch and run that beat The Texas Longhorns last year. Asked what was going through his mind at that time, he said "I couldn't hear nothing. I was so focused, I couldn't hear nothing...I could see the whole field. I could see the linebackers. D-Line. I was like, hey, I can see everything." Many teams hope he can bring that focus to the NFL and there's every indication he can.

Indeed, if their play is as good as the way they deal with stupid media questions, Stafford and Crabtree will be all-pro players for a long time to come.