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Summer of acceleration - Devin Crawford-Tufts

Things have been happening fast for Edina wide receiver Devin Crawford-Tufts. After finishing a solid, but not spectacular junior football season, Crawford-Tufts spent the winter working out and getting ready for the track season. As the track season closed and the summer began Crawford-Tufts has had about as good an early summer as an athlete could hope.
"We played tough against some tough teams," said Crawford-Tufts. "I felt it went really well last year. We passed the ball well, but when we were playing our best we were running the ball effectively."
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Crawford-Tufts was happy with how he played, but not satisfied.
"I feel I played well. I didn't score as much as I would have liked to, but I felt like I helped out the team a lot. I will always want to put the ball in the end zone as much as I can, but I felt like I played pretty well."
What he did well was give cornerbacks headaches whenever he lined up across from one.
"I'm fast," said Crawford-Tufts. "I am good at getting away from jams."
This winter he lifted three days a week, did plyometrics and conditioning to go along with the weight room work. One day a week he would work with a personal trainer mostly to help with injury prevention type of exercises. Crawford-Tufts had a very specific goal for his winter workouts.
"My focus was to try to bulk up a little bit and keep the same speed."
Because of an injury and transfer rules, this was Crawford-Tufts' first year on the varsity track team. After looking at his results from the track season it is safe to say whatever he did this winter worked.
"I won state in the 100, the 200 and I was on the 4X100 relay team as well. I got second in the long jump and the team got second overall."
Crawford-Tufts could point to a couple of things that helped him excel on the track in 2010.
"I always work really hard. I went 120 percent every practice. I also spent a lot of time studying my starts. That was my big problem - starting to get my legs moving because I have longer legs."
Without much time to rest, Crawford-Tufts moved right into camps and 7 on 7 tournaments.
"After I did the Gopher camp I did the 7 on 7 passing tournament at TCF Bank Stadium and I got an offer. Then I went to Wisconsin's three day camp and they offered me as well. My team has a passing tournament at Hopkins every Tuesday night."
Other schools interested in Crawford-Tufts include Wyoming, Northwestern, Michigan State and just last week Ohio State started talking with him. Almost all of this has happened in a short amount of time.
"It's mostly been the last couple of months. Northwestern is the only school that contacted me last year. It has all been thrown at me pretty fast. We sent out a highlight film and I felt I did really well at the Gopher tournament. Then after the first offer I think the word spread around. When one school has interest in someone, the other schools might want to look into it too. I think that might have been the start of everything."
This is just the beginning for Crawford-Tufts. The rest of the offseason will be devoted to strength and conditioning as well as working on the little things as a wide receiver. He mentioned footwork and using his body to get separation from defensive backs as two things he will focus on the rest of the offseason.
If the last two months are any indication of how the next year will go, Crawford-Tufts is on the fast track to success. With the acceleration of his career in the last few months - two DI offers and three state championships, I for one can't wait to see what he does for an encore in his senior season.
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