West Virginia has added another commitment on the offensive line from Arkansas tackle Ty’kieast Crawford.
Crawford, 6-foot-5, 324-pounds, initially committed to UCLA Jan. 6 after previously entering the transfer portal Dec. 9 after four seasons with the Razorbacks.
During his time there, Crawford appeared in 33 games and made six starts.
Prior to his time at Arkansas, Crawford was at Charlotte where he spent one season and appeared in six games with three starts for the 49ers.
Crawford took an official visit to West Virginia and that’s when he made the decision to flip his pledge to the Mountaineers giving the football program another piece on the offensive line.
A former four-star prospect in the 2020 recruiting class, No. 25 rated tackle nationally according to Rivals.com and held offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, USC and more.
Crawford has one season of eligibility remaining and joins other offensive line additions Tulsa offensive guard Walter Young Bear, LSU offensive lineman Kimo Makane’ole and North Carolina State lineman Robby Martin.
Crawford has one season of eligibility remaining in his career.
WVSports.com breaks down the transfer of Crawford and what it means to the West Virginia Mountaineers football program both now and in the future.
The data:
Crawford has played 643 snaps on the offensive side over his five seasons at the college level but played only 10 with the Razorbacks this past season. His most productive in terms of snaps played was in 2023 where he appeared in 331 snaps and graded out at 63.4 according to Pro Football Focus.
The offensive tackle graded out especially well at pass blocking during his time on the field and during that 2023 season was at 77.3 across 152 snaps.
Crawford has spent time at both right tackle and right guard with the bulk of that coming on the edge.
Fitting the program:
West Virginia has been looking to address the offensive line in the transfer market and Crawford is a big athletic option that has the pedigree after a recruiting process where he collected a lot of offers. He should have every opportunity to make a mark on the field in his lone season in Morgantown and the depth chart currently has an opening for an experienced offensive lineman to earn a role.
The Mountaineers were able to get Crawford on campus and that must have served as a key factor in getting him to flip his commitment. West Virginia has now added four offensive linemen in this cycle from the transfer portal as the coaching staff continues to upgrade the talent in that room.
Recruiting the position:
Offensive line, especially tackles, remain a priority for West Virginia as they continue the process of rebuilding the group up front. The Mountaineers played host to Princeton tackle Will Reed for an official visit Jan. 11 and remain in the mix for him at this stage of the process. Expect more names to emerge in the coming days and weeks as the focus in on hitting at that spot.
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