Back to the Future
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Dallas Crawford knows that during his playing career as a Hurricane, there were some games, some moments he’d rather forget.
Then there was one magical night at North Carolina.
“There were some bad plays I made,” the former running back-turned-graduate assistant recalled with a smile. “But I can always go back to that night. Always go back to that night.”
Early on, that night – October 17, 2013 – had all the makings of a nightmare.
Duke Johnson, the Hurricanes’ top rusher, left the game with an injury. Receiver Phillip Dorsett got hurt, too. And quarterback Stephen Morris, who had thrown just four interceptions all season to that point, struggled as he matched that turnover total in one rough outing.
Throw into that mix the fact an unranked, one-win North Carolina team was doing its best to upset the unbeaten 10th-ranked Hurricanes in front of a raucous crowd at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill and things looked grim for Miami.
Then Crawford, who’d been called on to fill the void left by Johnson’s absence, broke through.
First came his 3-yard touchdown run with 11:29 left that cut North Carolina’s lead to 23-20 after the extra point. Then, three possessions later, there was a methodical 13-play, 90-yard drive during which Crawford carried the ball eight times, including on a 3-yard run with 16 seconds left that helped the Hurricanes escape Chapel Hill with a 27-23 win.
Crawford, who’d come into the North Carolina game with just 119 rushing yards on the season, finished the night with a career-high 33 carries for 137 yards, another career high.
“People bring that game up a lot,” Crawford said. “And it always brings back good memories.”
Expect those memories to be front and center Saturday when Crawford, now a member of the coaching staff at his alma mater, returns to Chapel Hill for the first time since that game.
Crawford figures the atmosphere will be much like it was that night, especially with North Carolina already announcing Saturday’s game is a sellout and the Tar Heels are riding serious momentum after a season-opening win over South Carolina in Charlotte.
That’s just one of the reasons Crawford has made it a point to chat with not only the cornerbacks he helps coach, but the running backs who, he hopes, will exceed his rushing numbers when the Hurricanes take the field for their ACC opener.
“I want DeeJay [Dallas] to have a better night than me. I want Lorenzo [Lingard] to have a better night than me. I want Cam [Harris] to have a better night than me,” Crawford said. “Pass the torch. I hope they do it. I hope they experience that because it’s a great feeling.”
While the current crop of Hurricanes running backs will look to help move the offense, Crawford will be working with cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph and defensive coordinator Blake Baker as Miami’s defense tries to replicate its dominant showing against North Carolina last fall.
For Crawford, who started his coaching career at Georgia in 2017 as a quality control assistant under former Hurricanes offensive coordinator James Coley, returning to Miami has been the stuff of dreams; something he likely couldn’t have imagined when he decided to give up playing football to pursue coaching.
“I love this place,” Crawford said simply. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”
Changing career paths, though, wasn’t easy, not when an opportunity to play in the Canadian Football League presented itself. But, a heart-to-heart with a fellow Hurricanes alum helped Crawford realize he could have different kind of future in the game he loved.
“I talked to friends, family, but I think the biggest thing that stuck out in the transition was the advice I got from Alonzo Highsmith,” said Crawford, who worked as a scout for the San Francisco 49ers before joining the staff at Georgia. “He was like, ‘You can waste years and keep getting cut or you can come over here and make money on this side of the ball.’ And he told me not to hang on too long. That stuck with me.”
What’s stuck with him, too, is the experience he gained at Miami.
Crawford acknowledges things didn’t always go as he hoped during his career as a Hurricane. There were times he was frustrated by a lack of playing time. There were losses that stung.
But that experience, he believes, has helped make him a better coach. And given that he’s not that far removed from his time on the Greentree Practice Fields himself, Crawford feels he’s able to better connect with his players, especially some of those who feel like they can be doing more for the Hurricanes.
“I’ve probably said it to everyone – you’re one play away. If you’re the third string, maybe you’re two plays away,” Crawford said. “You always have to prepare like the starter. There’s no backups here. Someone else might run out there first, but you’re still a starter in your head and that’s how you have to think. That’s what I try to preach. Because when you get your chance, if you mess up, you may not get it again.”
Said Rumph of Crawford’s addition to the staff, “When I say something as a former player and then they hear him back it up, they perk up and listen a little bit better. He has that credibility to him. He’s seen some good stuff and he’s seen some bad and the players look up to him. … He loves it here. You can see it.”
For Crawford, one of those big chances to prove himself as a player came in Chapel Hill. And that night, he made the most of the unexpected chance he was given.
Now, he’s trying to make the most of another opportunity, one given to him by head coach Manny Diaz, Baker, co-defensive coordinator Ephraim Banda and Rumph.
Still, it’d be hard to fault Crawford if, for even just a brief moment Saturday, he can’t help but feel like a player again.
“Honestly, I can’t wait to go back. I can’t wait to see that place again. I know as soon as I walk in, everything will come right back,” he said. “I’ll remember the smell of the grass. I’ll remember I made a play at this hashmark. I scored a touchdown there. And I think it will be a special feeling.”
