Mack Crowder (born December 23, 1992) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

. A native of

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, Crowder attended

Tennessee High School Tennessee High School is a public high school located in Bristol, Tennessee, operated as part of the Bristol Tennessee City Schools school district. The high school serves almost all of the Bristol city limits. History The first official Tenne ...

Bristol, Tennessee Bristol is a city in Sullivan County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 27,147 at the 2020 census. It is the twin city of Bristol, Virginia, which lies directly across the state line between Tennessee and Virginia. The boundary be ...

. Regarded as a three-star recruit by

Rivals.com Rivals.com (stylized as ''rivals'') is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was found ...

, he was listed as the No. 14 center in his recruit class by Rivals and the No. 7 center in his class by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

College career

Crowder

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his first year at Tennessee (2011), and then played backup to James Stone most of his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons (2012-2013). He made his playing debut against

Georgia State Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the second large ...

in the 2012 season, and also played against

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

that same season. During the spring practice of 2013, Crowder received the team's Harvey Robinson Award for the Most Surprising Offensive Player. In the 2013 season, Crowder drew his first career start at center against No. 11

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, where Tennessee's win snapped a 19-game losing streak against ranked opponents. Crowder also played in seven other games during the 2013 season. Crowder is slated to start the 2014 season and has been called by

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Butch Jones Lyle Allen "Butch" Jones Jr. (born January 17, 1968) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Arkansas State University. Jones previously served as a special assistant to the head coach and offensive analyst at the Univ ...

a leader of the offensive line. Additionally, Crowder was selected as one of Tennessee's student-athlete representatives along with senior linebacker A.J. Johnson and junior defensive lineman

Curt Maggitt Curt Maggitt ( ; born February 4, 1993) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at Tennessee and signed with the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2016. Early years Maggitt attended and played high sc ...

for the 2014 SEC Media Day.

Personal life

Mackenzie James Crowder was born in

, on December 23, 1992, to

Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

and Caroline Crowder. He has two older brothers: Michael, who played college football at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, and Matthew, who played college football at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. On February 16, 2016, Crowder was arrested by Pinellas County, Florida, Sheriffs Deputies on four counts of sending material harmful to a minor and one count of using a computer for a prohibited purpose after engaging in a sexual online conversation with what the police said he believed was a minor. The four charges of sending material to a minor were subsequently dismissed by the state's attorney for Pinellas County. Crowder pleaded guilty to "unlawful use of a communication device" and was ordered to spend two months in jail. One of the prosecutors in Crowder's case stated that "Crowder initially went online looking for an adult companion, so this looked like a possible lapse in judgment."

References

External links

Tennessee Volunteers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowder, Mack 1992 births Living people People from Bristol, Tennessee American football centers Tennessee Volunteers football players Players of American football from Tennessee