Nolan Cromwell
No. 21 | |||||||
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Position: | Defensive back | ||||||
Personal information | |||||||
Born: | Smith Center, Kansas, U.S. | January 30, 1955||||||
Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||
Weight: | 200 lb (91 kg) | ||||||
Career information | |||||||
High school: | Ransom | ||||||
College: | Kansas | ||||||
NFL draft: | 1977 / Round: 2 / Pick: 31 | ||||||
Career history | |||||||
As a player: | |||||||
As a coach: | |||||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||
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Player stats at NFL.com · PFR |
Nolan Neil Cromwell (born January 30, 1955) is an American former professional
Early years
Cromwell played in the town of
Playing career
College
Cromwell was an honorable mention All-America quarterback for the University of Kansas Jayhawks under coach Bud Moore. He started at quarterback for two seasons, throwing 92 passes and completing 33 for 606 yards. He is one of KU's ten 1,000-yard rushers in school history.
As a freshman in 1973 under Coach Don Fambrough, he was the starting free safety in the Liberty Bowl. After being a two-year starter and All Big 8 performer at safety, he made the move to quarterback where he broke several KU, Big Eight and NCAA records for rushing by a quarterback. In 1975, Cromwell rushed 294 and 187 yards in the Oregon State and Wisconsin games, respectively, and finished the season with 1,124 rushing yards. He also scored a touchdown in a 23-3 win over the University of Oklahoma who were ranked #1 at the time and the defending national champions. In 1975, he was named Big 8 Offensive Player of the Year by the AP. Despite playing in just 18 games on offense at Kansas (he suffered a season-ending knee injury in his senior year when the Jayhawks were 5-1 and ranked in the top 10), he is 13th on the school's all-time rushing charts and is the top rushing quarterback. He holds the Kansas record for most rushes (24) by a Kansas player in a Bowl game (set vs. Pittsburgh in the 1975 Sun Bowl).
Cromwell also earned All-America honors in the 600-yard run and the 440 intermediate hurdles while setting KU records in the 600-meter and 400-meter yard runs, the intermediate hurdles (a record he still holds at 49:47) and the decathlon and qualified for the US Olympic trials in the low hurdles.[2]
He was part of the Big-8 champion mile relay team in 1975 and 1976 and was the Big-8 440-yd/400-meter hurdle champ in both 1975 and 1976. With Cromwell's contributions the 1975 Jayhawk track team finished ranked second in the NCAA in outdoor track and fifth in indoor track while capturing both titles for the Big-8 Conference. In 1976 they repeated as Big-8 indoor champs and were second in outdoor while finishing tied for 9th in the NCAA in indoor competition and tied for 20th in outdoor competition. In 1977, he was voted Big Eight Athlete of the Year.
Cromwell was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.
NFL
Cromwell was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams as a defensive back in the second round, with the 32nd pick, in 1977 and played his entire 11-year career in Los Angeles. He was the Rams' nickelback in 1977 and 1978 and a standout on special teams; running a fake field goal as a holder was Cromwell's specialty. In 1979, he won the starting free safety position and was named second-team All-NFC.
He was named the 1980
At the time of his retirement, he was the Rams' all-time leader in interception return yardage with 671 yards on 37 interceptions. After retirement, he was named to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team and the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame. The Professional Football Researchers Association named Cromwell to the PRFA Hall of Very Good Class of 2014.[3]
Along with his various accomplishments on the field, Cromwell also starred and "danced" in the 1986 Rams promotional video Let's Ram It,[4] rapping "I like to ram it, as you can see, nobody likes ramming it more than me," after introducing himself as "Hollywood handsome, Dodge City tough."[5]
Coaching career
NFL
After retirement as an active player, Cromwell began his coaching career with the Rams. He served as a defensive and
After two Super Bowl appearances with Green Bay, in 1996 and 1997, Cromwell followed Holmgren to the Seattle Seahawks to coach the wide receivers. Cromwell's 2002 wide receiver corps set a franchise record for 300-yard (five) and 400-yard (two) passing games and in 2003 helped quarterback Matt Hasselbeck set a club record with 3,841 passing yardsIn Seattle, Cromwell again made a Super Bowl appearance as a coach during the Seahawks' 2005 season.
Cromwell was hired by the
On January 18, 2012, Nolan Cromwell was hired as the Senior Offensive Assistant of the Cleveland Browns.
College
On January 5, 2008, Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman named Cromwell to be his offensive coordinator.[6] When asked by media as to why he chose Cromwell, Sherman responded "I’ve always been impressed with him and the job he did in (the NFL). He's excited about being part of college football."[7]
On February 10, 2010, Cromwell returned to the NFL as a wide receiver coach for the Rams and worked with the likes of Donnie Avery, Mark Clayton, Brandon Gibson, and other to get into synch with new Rams quarterback Sam Bradford.[8]
Personal life
Nolan married former Rams cheerleader and Miss Hollywood USA 1980–81 Mary Lynne Gehr. They have two children, Lance and Jennifer.
References
- ^ "Aggies' McGee: A perfect fit". Archived from the original on October 29, 2013.
- ^ "Cromwell takes run at bettering A&M offense". Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2008.
- ^ "Professional Researchers Association Hall of Very Good Class of 2014". Archived from the original on March 13, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
- ^ "Rams". Los Angeles Times. November 13, 1986. p. 129. Retrieved April 18, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ram IT (NFL Rams Football Team) Song". Retrieved April 17, 2018 – via YouTube.[dead YouTube link]
- ^ Texas A&M Athletics Cromwell Named Texas A&M Offensive Coordinator Archived January 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Big 12 Buzz: Lane adjustment".
- ^ Rams Hire Nolan Cromwell as WRs coach