Dustin Crum’s journey to starting QB at Kent State didn’t come without hard work
KENT, Ohio (BVM) — For Kent State quarterback Dustin Crum, football has always been a part of his life. The son of a high school football coach, Crum would attend his dad’s practice sessions at as little as 4 years old.
He would sit in awe of his dad and the players. He loved to ride the bus home with his dad after practices and games and draw up plays in a Superman notebook.
After elementary school each day, Crum and his brother would play tackle football in the front yard.
Wherever Crum went, football would follow.
Crum began playing youth football in first grade, where he played mostly running back and linebacker. He switched positions in fourth grade to quarterback, and never looked back.
The team aspect of football appeals to Crum.
“Football isn’t like basketball,” Crum said. “One guy can’t take over the game. It takes all 11 guys on both sides of the ball.”
Growing up playing the position, Crum idolized former Texas star quarterback Colt McCoy.
“I loved the way he carried himself on the field,” Crum stated. “He was a winner. He’s one of the most winningest quarterbacks in college football history, and his accuracy at Texas was off the charts. He’s one of the best to ever do it, and I’ve always tried to emulate his style of play.”
While Crum has played football all his life, it wasn’t until his sophomore year of high school that he realized he could play the most premium position in all of sports at a high level. At Midview High School, Crum was not projected to be the starting quarterback. He was competing with Cody Callaway, a former Bowling Green Falcon, for the job. But Crum won the job, and with that, the team took off.
“We weren’t even supposed to be very good, but we ended up finishing 12-1 that year and going to the regional championship,” Crum said. “That season made me realize I could play high-level football at the varsity level.”
Entering his senior season, Crum did not know his athletic plans beyond high school, as he had gotten no scholarship offers up to that point. However, right before the season, Kent State offered him a scholarship, and he was on board.
In his freshman year at Kent State, Crum was not supposed to see any playing time, but due to injuries, he was thrust into action.
“My first year was a whirlwind,” Crum noted. “Because two quarterbacks went down, I was essentially the emergency guy, and I was figuring it out on the fly.”
Looking back, Crum wouldn’t change the experience for the world.
“I learned a lot from it,” Crum added. “I could have developed more before I played, but at the same time I got to build some confidence entering my sophomore year.”
For Crum, everything changed that sophomore season.
After five seasons as the head coach, Paul Haynes was fired following a disappointing 2-10 campaign in 2017. Haynes’ replacement, Sean Lewis, was the previous co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Syracuse, and had a reputation around the league as an innovative offensive coach — the complete opposite of Haynes.
Crum’s offensive coordinator, Andrew Sowder — who came in at the same time as Lewis — said Crum’s competitiveness is what makes him a great player.
“He has a tremendous work ethic, and he’s a great student,” Sowder noted. “His major is aerodynamic engineering, and you got to be smart to be in that major! Everything he does in the classroom translates to the football field. He knows where and when the football is supposed to go.”
Crum thought he had a chance to be the Flashes’ opening day starter in 2018, but coach Lewis and his staff decided to go with transfer product Woody Barrett from Auburn. Crum would only play in mop-up duty for Kent State that season, completing 16 of 27 passes and throwing for two touchdowns.
“I wasn’t bitter about the decision at all,” Crum explained. “Yeah, I could have blamed the coaching staff for bringing in their own guy when I was already on the team, but I instead focused on what I could do as a player. I locked in on how I could get better, and how I could force them to make me the starter.”
Crum would get his opportunity his junior season.
Following an opening weekend 30-7 loss to Arizona, Crum was named the starter for the first time under coach Lewis for Kent State’s Week 2 game against Kennesaw State.
From there, Crum would never look back.
In the Kennesaw State game, he threw for 192 yards and a touchdown, and the Flashes would win the game in overtime, 26-23.
Coach Sowder said Crum’s work in the 2019 offseason led to the success he had on the field.
“He went in the weight room and got his arm stronger, so he could make bigger and more accurate throws,” Sowder said. “In practice, both in the spring and in summer, he was consistent and constantly made plays.”
With the senior under center, Kent State would win over six games and be invited to its first bowl game since 2012.
Crum would finish the regular season with over 2,000 yards, 20 touchdowns, just two interceptions and a 159.7 passer rating. He was ranked the second-most accurate passer in college football that season by Pro Football Focus, only trailing future No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Joe Burrow from LSU.
“When we made the decision to go with Crum, we made it because we felt like he was ready,” Sowder said. “We didn’t want to throw him in against a team that was above our level in Arizona State, so that’s why we saved his first start for the Kennesaw State game.”
In the Frisco Bowl against Utah State, Crum outdueled future first-round pick Jordan Love. He threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns in the Flashes’ 51-41 victory.
“Everybody on the team took the Frisco Bowl as a challenge,” Crum said. “We knew we were overlooked because we were in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). We met it head on, and it was a great building block for the team.”
That building block, however, met a buzzsaw in March of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world. The MAC originally decided not to play football in the fall due to safety concerns, but eventually chose to play a four-game, all-conference schedule in November. Kent State would go 3-1 in those games.
All seniors were allowed an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic, and for Crum, the decision was easy to come back for the fall of 2021.
“Last year didn’t even really count,” Crum said. “We played a handful of games, and we never even really had a chance to build momentum. Yes, we put up a lot of points, but we could have done more. We just didn’t have the time.
“Knowing that, I knew I wanted to come back for one more year because I know I have some unfinished business left here at Kent. Before I prepare for the 2022 NFL Draft, I want to win a MAC Championship here with my teammates.”
