Former Marshall tight end C.J. Crawford isn’t done with his college football career just yet. Crawford has transferred to the University of Charlotte where he will begin practicing with the 49ers this spring.
It was announced last week that Crawford had completed his degree and was leaving the Marshall football program. The local product from Huntington High played in all 12 games this season but made just 11 catches for 107 yards. That was almost half as many he hauled in during his sophomore campaign when he caught 21 balls.
“CJ plays in the H-Back spot and we think we can move him around,” 49ers Head Coach Brad Lambert said in a press release. “We can use him as a wideout, a tight end, a back. He’s athletic and can stretch the field for us and he brings a lot of versatility to our offense.”
Crawford’s move doesn’t come as a tremendous surprise. His playing time had been shrinking with the emergence of Gator Hoskins at tight end. Hoskins caught 35 passes and led all Marshall receivers with ten touchdown receptions in 2012. Eric Frohnapfel also established himself as a weapon over the middle. The 6-foot-6 Frohnapfel provides a big target for quarterback Rakeem Cato to look for when he needs eight yards for a first down or the protection starts to break down and he needs to get rid of the ball.
Crawford joins former Marshall assistant coach Phil Ratliff at Charlotte, who was Crawford’s position coach during his time with The Herd.
Charlotte will play its inaugural football season in 2013 as one of the new members joining Conference USA.