Double or Nothing : Although Notre Dame Tempts the Fates With Craigwell at Quarterback and Safety, It’s Worth the Gamble

They say there’s a first time for everything.

For Notre Dame High football Coach Kevin Rooney, Jabbar Craigwell is the first quarterback he also has used as a full-time defensive player.

Not coincidentally, the Knights are one upset away from their first appearance in a Southern Section championship game.

“We’ve never had a quarterback who played both ways,” said Rooney, in his 14th season at Notre Dame, “but Jabbar is an extraordinary athlete and a leader. We felt it was necessary for the well-being of our team to have him play both ways.”

As a safety, Craigwell is the “quarterback” of the defense that finished the regular season allowing the fewest yards per game of any area Southern Section team.

As they head into Friday night’s Division IV semifinal against top-seeded Canyon Springs at Birmingham High, the Knights (10-2) have given up 182.1 yards and 11.7 points per game.

“There’s no question we place a priority on defense,” Rooney said.

Such a priority, in fact, that the Knights are willing to take the risk of having Craigwell, the Mission League’s most dangerous offensive player this season, slamming his helmet into people as a safety.

Such a priority that Notre Dame is willing to hand the offense to sophomore quarterback Ryan Bowne for one series each half, just to give Craigwell a breather.

The sideline is practically a foreign place to Craigwell. Since he joined the Notre Dame varsity as a sophomore two years ago, he has been a two-way starter, as a safety and running back then. He even returned punts as a sophomore.

But in the middle of last season, Rooney was unhappy with the Notre Dame offense. So he moved Craigwell from running back to quarterback, a position he played as a freshman.

“I was surprised to move,” Craigwell said. “The first couple of games (as a quarterback) I wasn’t that happy because I wasn’t prepared to be moved back there. I was a little shaky. But after I got a few games under my belt, I was fine.”

Craigwell (5-foot-10, 180 pounds) passed for 873 yards and ran for 382 his junior year. This season, he has blossomed at quarterback, completing 86 of 152 passes (56.6%) for 1,275 yards. He has thrown 16 touchdown passes and three interceptions. He also has rushed for 481 yards and five touchdowns in 92 carries.

“It’s difficult to try to contain him because he is a good runner and passer,” St. Francis Coach Bill Redell said. “He can beat you one way or the other. And that’s hard, when you are running a lot and then have to go play defense without getting a rest.”

The idea of taking Craigwell off the defense once he moved to quarterback never entered their minds, Rooney and defensive coordinator Joe McNab said. Also starting on both sides of the ball are lineman Andrew Mikhail, tight end-defensive lineman Ed Romero, receiver-cornerback Joey Orlando and running back-linebacker Lei Malieitulua.

Besides, Craigwell is the best defensive player on the team.

“He plays safety, which is a very important position,” Rooney said. “He’s kind of the last line of defense. He’s already had several touchdown-saving tackles for us that we feel someone else might not have made.”

McNab, who said he is a little nervous whenever his safety gets gang-tackled by a couple of linebackers, said Craigwell is valuable as a defensive leader.

“If something bad happens he calms them down and takes charge in the huddle, just like he does on offense,” McNab said. “He’s really aggressive and I think the defense feeds off that.”

But the Knights still had to find a way to keep Craigwell from burning out, so the coaches came up with the Bowne Solution over the summer. Besides being able to rest Craigwell, the plan allowed the coaches to take a close look at the likely quarterback of the next two seasons.

Bowne has completed four of 15 passes for 35 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns. Craigwell appreciates the short breaks but wouldn’t mind one more role.

“I always wanted to return kickoffs and I haven’t gotten a chance to,” he said. “I keep bugging the coaches to let me.”

Don’t wait for that to happen. Rooney is content with Craigwell’s two jobs. But what if he had to choose just one? “He’d probably play defense before quarterback if we had to make a choice,” Rooney said.

The coach paused for a moment to think about what he had just said.

“Well, I don’t know if that is true,” he said. “He’s pretty good at quarterback.”