Keion Crossen – March 21, 2022
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Monday, March 21, 2022
DB Keion Crossen
(It seems like you have a past relationship with Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer. What role did he play in you coming to Miami? And early on in that one season in New England, what was the impact he had on your career?) – “Josh Boyer is a great coach. Obviously he drafted me when I was in New England. He actually developed me in my rookie year. He’s a great guy, a really good coach. I know he’s going to put in the effort as a coach towards me as a player in making sure that I have all the tools and essentials to be a great football player. That was my reasoning for choosing Miami, in terms of Josh Boyer. He’s a good coach and gets the best out of his players, and that’s exactly what I’m looking for.”
(Did General Manager Chris Grier, Head Coach Mike McDaniel or Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer give you any sense of whether you would get an opportunity to play defensively here?) – “I think that’s always the expectation. Even being a special teams player, you always look for opportunities of where you can fit in to make the team better. Whether that’s me being on special teams, me being at the nickel or the outside corner, I think wherever I can fit in to make the team better, that’s the position I’ll be playing. I think with the assets that I have, they’ll try to find every chance or possibility to give me a role. As we work out those kinks, my main goal here is to make the team better and do what I can do to the best of my ability.”
(You mentioned special teams. There are a lot of good special teamers, but there are only a handful of great special teamers. What do you think is required of a great special teams player?) – “I think the discipline just to understand the craft. Special teams as a position is very different from offense and defense because it’s the only team on the field that has multiple aspects to it. It has offensive players, defensive players and it has guys that specialize in special teams. I think it takes a team effort. It takes a lot of ability to lead and ability to follow – a lot of communication aspects. But at the end of the day, it takes a lot of hard tough-nosed guys to get the ball. I think we have that and I think we can work to create more of that this year and the years following. That’s the thing I think it takes to be a great special teams unit. I don’t think it’s one player that makes the unit the best. I think it takes a team effort, and that’s what I’m here to do. We’ll see how that goes.”
(I heard there is a street named after you in your hometown? How did that come about and what does that mean to you?) – “I was surprised. I want to say about a year and a half ago, I was surprised with it. My hometown of Garysburg (North Carolina) had a revealing. I was actually shocked then. That was a dream come true to have the street that you live on – and one of my parents still stays back in my hometown. My dad visits the street very often. It’s a dream come true. The town is accumulated of less than 1,000 people, I would say. There are still kids there that need to be motivated and need to be inspired. I’m glad that God put me in the position to be an inspiration.”
(What’s the official name of the street?) – “It’s Keion Crossen Street.”
(The last time we chatted, you mentioned your master’s degree. I wanted to get you to follow up on that and talk more about your decision to pursue that master’s degree and what exactly you have it in?) – “My master’s degree is in theology. The decision I made to pursue it was basically – I’m an educated individual and I like to pursue education. I think that knowledge is not only power but it’s also a stream to communication, it’s a stream to meeting others and communicating with others. I like to learn – even with football, outside of football, I like to learn. Most people think theology is all about the bible, the bible, the bible. But actually, it teaches you about different cultures. When I get a chance to go and I’m sitting with a Buddhist, I know the culture. I know what exactly they accept, exactly what they don’t accept. It’s just a way to network and to create different relationships. It’s been a trying educational period for me because oddly Liberty has a strict master’s program. It’s definitely been a disciplined action. I took pride in it and I hope a lot more guys in the league take pride in whether it’s finishing their undergrad or going to get their master’s. Education is important and one day I hope my kids are able to do the same thing. That’s what I wanted to start, just that educational, generational wealth, if you will.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel, I don’t know how much time you’ve gotten to speak with him yet, but do you have a first impression?) – “That is an exciting guy. Obviously he loves speed. I think that’s one thing he mentioned to me for sure. One thing he mentioned for sure is family. This place is like family. You can even tell within the walls of the facility. He’s all about having fun, enjoying the game and he lets his players be who they are. That’s one thing I like about him. When I first met him, we were just chilling on the couch, talking. It wasn’t even about ball. It was about life and that’s all that matters. We know he’s a hell of a coach and he’ll get to prove that when his time comes. At the end of the day, he’s a players coach. I’m looking forward to getting to know him a little bit more and I’m sure he’s looking forward to getting to know me more as well.”
(What brought you to major in theology? What inspired that?) – “As a young guy, I was always into church, but I never could figure out what church was about. Going to a Baptist church, obviously there is a lot of shouting and hooting and hollering, and you don’t know what exactly is going on, but you know something is happening. I just wanted to dig deeper. I had a pastor named Rev. Lee. He’s my hometown pastor. I met with him a few times and he actually encouraged me. He said do you ever want to try to figure out what exactly it is that you’re doing. We met a few times. It was one youth Sunday he let me be the MC. I wasn’t the lead pastor, but I was the MC and I really, really enjoyed it. I always tell people the feeling that I got preaching on that one Easter Sunday when he actually gave me the opportunity about two years ago, it was way better than any feeling I’ve had, even in the Super Bowl that we won with the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII. It was way better than that. I know it’s a passion that I have because it not only helps me lead people, but it helps change people’s lives. That’s whether it’s in the church or just evangelizing out here in the world. That comes every day. It’s an everyday thing that I try to pursue and I try to get better at.”
(What would you say after all of your studies is the purpose for life?) – “The purpose for life, honestly there are three things I would say. One thing would be to be a better person. Find your better self and that helps you get the best out of others, because the more you know about yourself, the better you can get things out of others. The next thing is to enjoy life, have a good time and try to be as respectful as possible. I think those three concepts all lead with the integrity factors of respect, honesty, and doing all of the right things. I think that’s a given – being respectful, being honest, that’s a given. Everyone should do that. But that’s not always the case.”
