DEL.ICIO.USBoston College’s Crane steps into spotlight
Tech faces quarterback ready after three years backing up Falcons’ Ryan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
For three long years, Chris Crane carried the clipboard for Matt Ryan. And naturally, he hated it.
Until he really started to watch.
AP
Boston College quarterback Chris Crane completed 12 of 18 passes for 106 yards and ran for 47 yards and scored twice against Kent State Saturday.
“It was really frustrating initially and then I kind of realized the type of player that Matt was and what he was capable of doing,” Crane said. “I knew the only good thing that I could do for Boston College football was to be a friend to Matt, be a lending ear and just learn as much as I could from him so that when my time came, I could be able to perform at a level that was similar to his.”
That time is now and Georgia Tech is afforded the opportunity to measure the Eagles’ new quarterback Saturday in the ACC’s opening league game at BC’s Alumni Stadium. To date, Crane, a fifth-year player who has already graduated with a psychology degree, has thrown for just 369 career yards, which doesn’t even match what Ryan did to Tech last year (435 yards in a 24-10 win).
But again, he won’t be taken lightly.
“I always remind myself that this could be my one and only shot,” Crane said. “I don’t know what snap could be my last, so I’m preparing like this game will be it for me.”
Crane is bigger (6-foot-4, 239 pounds) and faster than was Ryan, who on the same weekend will start his first game for the Atlanta Falcons. That mobility has prompted BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski to toss in another chapter to his playbook. Crane is not only comfortable throwing on the run but the staff also installed some option calls, giving him a shot rushing.
“That’s a pretty big guy,” Jagodzinski said. “He’s no Thomas Lott or Jamelle Holieway from Oklahoma. But he can dish it out.”
Hence, game film from the 2007 BC-Tech game is rather obsolete.
“Matt was mobile but he wasn’t running-mobile,” Crane said. “He was just shifty enough to make defensive linemen miss in the pocket and roll out and extend the play.
“My background in high school (Trinity High, Camp Hill, Pa.), we ran the Wing T offense. I can throw on the move and I’m really comfortable being outside the pocket. There’s a lot of different things they can call.”
Jagodzinski gave Crane high marks in BC’s 21-0 opening victory last weekend at Kent State, just his seventh appearance and just his second start. He completed 12 of 18 passes for 106 yards but also ran for 47 yards and scored twice, matching Ryan’s rushing touchdown total from all of 2007.
“If he had just made the throws that he just missed, he would have been 16-of-18 and probably would have had another 100 more yards,” Jagodzinski said. “But we were pleased with what he did. We came out without any turnovers and not any bad decisions. He managed the game, which is exactly what we asked him do.”
The act is hard to follow. Ryan took the Eagles to their first ACC championship game last December (a 30-16 loss to Virginia Tech) and then a 24-21 win over Michigan State in the Champs Sports Bowl. After breaking a host of Doug Flutie’s school passing records, Ryan was a run-away choice at conference player of the year.
No one had a better view of all of it than Crane. The Eagles finished in the Top 10 for the first time in 23 years. All Crane gets to do is conduct the encore.
“I know from watching Matt the preparation he needed to put in,” he said. “He was such a great player. I have to do all that plus some more. That’s how I’m feeling.”
