Su'a Cravens

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Su'a Cravens
refer to caption
Cravens with the Washington Redskins in 2016
No. 21, 36
Position:Safety
Personal information
Born: (1995-07-07) July 7, 1995 (age 28)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Height:6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:224 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High school:Vista Murrieta (Murrieta, California)
College:USC (2013-2015)
NFL draft:2016 / Round: 2 / Pick: 53
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Interceptions:
1
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR

Su'a Kristopher Cravens (born July 7, 1995) is a former

2016 NFL Draft
.

Cravens played the linebacker position during his rookie year with the team, before moving full time to strong safety the following season. However, Cravens announced his decision to retire just before the season began, and was placed on the team's reserve list as a result. After undergoing treatment for post-concussion syndrome, Cravens later announced his intention to return to the Redskins, but was traded to the Denver Broncos during the 2018 offseason.

Early years

Cravens attended

Max Preps
Sophomore All-American second team, Cal-Hi Sports All-State Sophomore first team, and All-Southwestern League first team honors.

In his junior year in 2011, Cravens played

touchdowns and ran for 673 yards on 75 carries (9.0 avg.) with 15 touchdowns on offense, as Vista Murrieta went 14–0 and captured the CIF Inland Division title with a 35–28 win over perennial powerhouse Corona Centennial.[1]

His 2012 senior season honors included

punts on defense in 2012, and also caught 21 passes for 342 yards (16.3 avg.) and ran for 200 yards on 17 carries (11.8 avg.) with 14 total touchdowns on offense, helping lead Vista Murrieta to a 13–1 record. Their only loss came in the CIF Inland Division final against Corona Centennial.[3]

Cravens also participated in

track & field at Vista Murrieta, where he competed in jumps and posted a personal-best leap of 1.93 meters (six feet, four inches) in the high jump.[4]

Regarded as a five-star recruit by

U.S. Army All-American Bowl.[5] Cravens chose the Trojans over offers from nearly every BCS program in the nation, including Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio State. Cravens became the Trojans’ eighth commitment for the 2013 class and the fifth five-star rated recruit in a class featuring quarterback Max Browne, defensive lineman Kenny Bigelow and running backs Ty Isaac
and Justin Davis. He enrolled at USC in the spring of 2013 after graduating a semester early from high school.

College career

Freshman year

Cravens in 2013

Cravens started at strong safety as a first-year freshman and made quite an impact. Overall in 2013, while appearing in and starting 13 games (he suffered a groin injury against Utah and missed the Oregon State game), he had 52 tackles, including 1.5 for losses of four yards, plus four interceptions for 54 yards (13.5 avg), one deflection, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He also returned a

True Freshman All-American second team. He was also an All-Pac-12 Conference honorable mention. He missed the last half of spring practice after having surgery for a torn cartilage in his knee.[6]

Sophomore year

Cravens returned as a starter for his sophomore year in 2014. He was asked to play a hybrid strong safety/strongside outside linebacker spot. Starting all 13 games for the second consecutive season, he compiled 68 tackles, including a team-best 17 for losses (more than any defensive back in the nation), five sacks, nine deflections and a team-best three interceptions (he returned one of them 31 yards for a touchdown). His 17 tackles for loss in 2014 were the most by a non-defensive lineman at USC since linebacker Markus Steele had 17 in 2000. For his season efforts, he was named to the All-American third team by the Associated Press (AP) and Athlon, fourth team All-American by Phil Steele and was an SI.com All-American honorable mention, as well as CollegeFootballNews.com Sophomore All-American first team. He made the 2014 All-Pac-12 first team, as well as the Athlon All-Pac-12 first team, Phil Steele All-Pac-12 first team and CollegeSportsMadness.com All-Pac-12 first team. He won USC's Defensive Perimeter Player of the Year Award. Against Oregon State in Week 4, he returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring against the Beavers and also had a team-best six tackles, including two for losses (with his first career sack) to earn Chuck Bednarik National Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Junior year

Cravens returned for his third year as a starter, again playing strongside outside linebacker (a hybrid safety-linebacker role) as a junior in 2015. Cravens was as a semifinalist for the Bednarik and Butkus awards after starting all 14 games as a 20-year-old team captain. He posted 86 tackles (46 solo), eight passes defensed, five sacks, two interceptions and two forced fumbles his junior season. After completing his junior season at the

2016 NFL Draft.[7] Cravens started 40 games for the Trojans and recorded 206 tackles (133 solo, 33.5 for a loss), 25 passes defensed, 10 sacks, nine interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) and three forced fumbles during his collegiate career. He earned first-team All-Pac-12 Conference honors at two different positions (defensive back - 2014, linebacker - 2015).[8]

Statistics

Regular season statistics Tackles Interceptions Fumbles
Season Team GP GS Comb Total Ast Sck Tfl PDef Int Yds Avg Lng TDs FF FR FR YDS
2013 USC 13 13 53 39 14 0.0 2.5 1 4 54 13.5 54 0 2 1 14
2014 USC 13 13 68 49 19 5.0 17.0 9 3 47 15.7 31 1 0 0 0
2015 USC 14 14 86 46 40 5.5 15.0 6 2 32 16.0 32 0 2 0 0
Totals 40 40 207 134 73 10.5 34.5 16 9 133 14.8 54 1 4 1 14

Source:[9]

Professional career

Pre-draft

Upon entering the draft, Cravens was projected in the NFL as a hybrid

safety, being compared to the Arizona Cardinals' Deone Bucannon.[10]

Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand span 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split
20-yard shuttle
Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Bench press
6 ft 0+34 in
(1.85 m)
226 lb
(103 kg)
32+18 in
(0.82 m)
9+12 in
(0.24 m)
4.69 s 1.58 s 2.68 s 4.41 s 6.92 s 30+12 in
(0.77 m)
9 ft 6 in
(2.90 m)
16 reps
All values from
Pro Day[11]

Washington Redskins

External videos
video icon NFL: Redskins Pick Su'a Cravens At Pick No. 53

The

special-teams stop. He started two games at safety and one at linebacker. Cravens missed the final three games of the season with an injury. In a game against the New York Giants in September 2016, Cravens made a game-clinching interception of Eli Manning to help the Redskins win their first game of the season.[16]

Cravens was projected to be the team's starting strong safety for the 2017 season. A week before the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles, Cravens informed the team of his decision to retire.[17] The announcement led to Redskins team president Bruce Allen convincing him to postpone it, and placed him on the team's exempt list, which was done in an effort to give him additional time to fix any personal issues that may have led to the decision.[17][18] Two weeks later, the team placed him on the reserve/left squad list, foregoing any chance of him playing for the team in 2017.[19] That December, Cravens was medically cleared to return after undergoing treatment and rehabilitation from post-concussion syndrome.[20] Two months later, he was reinstated by the league.[21]

Denver Broncos

On March 28, 2018, Cravens was traded to the

injured reserve on September 2, 2018 due to issues with his knee, but was activated back to the active roster on November 2, 2018.[24][25] On August 30, 2019, Cravens was released as part of the final roster cuts.[26]

Personal life

Cravens is the son of Kevin and Yolanda Cravens.[

Hawaii who previously played at Utah.[28] His grandfather, Jack Cravens, played basketball and baseball at Brigham Young from 1957 to 1959.[citation needed] His cousins, Jordan and Brynn Cameron, played football (2008–2010) and women's basketball (2005–2009), respectively, at USC; Jordan also played men's basketball at USC in 2008 and BYU in 2007 and played as a tight end for the NFL's Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins. Another cousin, Colby Cameron, was a quarterback at Louisiana Tech (2009–2012) before signing with the NFL's Carolina Panthers
.

With family roots from Samoa, Cravens is a distant cousin of former Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te'o.[29] His mother is second cousins with former Arizona State and NFL safety David Fulcher.[29] His uncle is married to Kyle Whittingham's sister.[29]

References

  1. ^ "Vista Murrieta drops Centennial in title game". Fox Sports West. December 10, 2011.
  2. ^ "ALL-USA".
  3. ^ "Corona Centennial holds off Vista Murrieta to win 30-28". Los Angeles Times. November 30, 2012.
  4. ^ "Su'a Cravens". Archived from the original on May 18, 2015.
  5. ^ "Yahoo Sports: Rivals.com Ranking - Rivals.com safeties 2013".
  6. ^ "Another knee injury for USC: Su'a Cravens has torn meniscus". Los Angeles Times. April 5, 2013.
  7. ^ "USC linebacker Su'a Cravens declares for NFL draft". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  8. ^ http://files.denverbroncos.com/resources/custom/Images/email_blast/2018_Denver_Broncos_Media_Guide_a.pdf Archived December 16, 2019, at the Wayback Machine[bare URL PDF]
  9. ^ "Su'a Cravens Stats". ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
  10. ^ a b Jones, Mike. "Redskins draft USC's Su'a Cravens in second round to add play-making 'dime linebacker'". Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  11. NFL.com
    .
  12. ^ "2016 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  13. ^ Czarda, Stephen (May 1, 2016). "Josh Doctson And Su'a Cravens -- Now Listed As Safety -- Assigned Numbers". Redskins.com. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  14. ^ "Spotrac.com:Su'a Cravens Contract". Spotrac.com. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  15. ^ Jones, Mike (August 2, 2016). "Redskins expect Su'a Cravens to man one 'position' — playmaker". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  16. ^ Czarda, Stephen. "Su'a Cravens Seals Redskins Victory With Diving Interception". Redskins.com. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  17. ^ a b Jones, Mike. "Safety Su'a Cravens stuns teammates and leaves Redskins scrambling with his plan to retire". Washington Post. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  18. ^ Patra, Kevin (September 3, 2017). "Redskins place Su'a Cravens on exempt/left squad list". NFL.com. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  19. ^ Keim, John (September 18, 2017). "Redskins place Su'a Cravens on left squad list; DB had mulled retirement at 22". ESPN. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  20. ^ Wagner-McGough, Sean (February 15, 2018). "Redskins' Su'a Cravens reportedly reinstated by NFL after contemplating retirement". CBS. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  21. ^ "Redskins safety Su'a Cravens reinstated by NFL". NFL.com. February 14, 2018. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  22. ^ Patra, Kevin. "Redskins trade safety Su'a Cravens to Broncos". NFL.com. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  23. ^ Copeland, Kareem (March 29, 2018). "With little trade leverage, Redskins forced to get what they could from Broncos for Su'a Cravens". The Denver Post. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  24. ^ DiLalla, Aric (September 2, 2018). "Broncos place S Su'a Cravens on IR, sign WR Isaiah McKenzie". DenverBroncos.com.
  25. ^ DiLalla, Aric (November 2, 2018). "Broncos activate S Su'a Cravens from IR, promote WR River Cracraft to active roster". DenverBroncos.com.
  26. ^ Patra, Kevin. "Denver Broncos release veteran safety Su'a Cravens". NFL.com. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  27. ^ "Malia Cravens Bio - University of Southern California Official Athletic Site".
  28. ^ "Hawaii Athletics".
  29. ^ a b c "Su'a Cravens can lean on rich family tree". ESPN.com. November 16, 2011.

External links