Marcus Cornelius Crandell (born January 6, 1974) is an American former professional

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and coach. He was most recently the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

of the

Saskatchewan Huskies The Saskatchewan Huskies are the athletics teams representing the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The university began their athletics program in 1907 and has competed with others since 1911. They currently compete in eli ...

of the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

. He played 11 seasons for the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

and

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

from 1997 to 2008 while also spending time in

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

and the XFL. Crandell was named the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player after the Stampeders won the 89th Grey Cup in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. He also won a

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

championship with the Roughriders in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

as the team's backup quarterback.

Early life

Crandell played high school football at Roanoke High School, located in Robersonville, NC. He went on to play

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

, where he established more than 30 passing and offensive records. He was a candidate for the

Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award is given annually in the United States to the nation's top upperclassman quarterback in college football. Candidates are judged on accomplishments on the field as well as on their character, scholastic achievem ...

in 1996. He led the

Pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

to two post-season bowl appearances, including a 19-13 victory over

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

in the 1995

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic Cit ...

. *1994: 230/401 for 2,687 yards with 21 TD vs. 15 INT. Also ran for 96 yards with 1 TD. *1995: 235/447 for 2,751 yards with 18 TD vs. 12 INT. Also ran for 201 yards with 6 TD. *1996: 136/245 for 1,507 yards with 16 TD vs. 10 INT. Also ran for 109 yards.

Professional career

His professional career has included

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division and five in the West Division. The CFL is the highest pr ...

stops at Saskatchewan as well as

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

and

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, a stint in

with the Scottish Claymores, and a season with the XFL's

Memphis Maniax The Memphis Maniax were an American football team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The team was part of the XFL (2001), XFL begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the United States. Home gam ...

. Crandell entered the CFL by signing with the Eskimos on May 6, 1997. He dressed for 35 games before being granted free agency on Feb. 16, 2000. Crandell then quarterbacked the Memphis Maniax of the now-defunct XFL and the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe in 2000. But after failing to stick with the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers, he signed a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

pact with the Stampeders on May 31, 2001. He won a

with the Stampeders in

and spent a total of four seasons with Calgary. He signed as a free agent with the Roughriders in March 2005 and also spent four seasons with the team, primarily as a backup, winning a Grey Cup championship in

CFL career statistics

As of 2025, the CFL lists Crandall with 64 games started at quarterback position. Previous CFL lists have a total of 67 games started (Calgary 48, Saskatchewan 16, Edmonton 3). The official 2025 CFL guide has Randall's starting quarterback record as 25–39.

Regular season

Coaching career

Crandell was hired by the Roughriders as an offensive assistant on July 7, 2009. In 2011, he became the Offensive Coordinator of the

. He was demoted to quarterbacks coach midway through the 2012 season and did not return to the Eskimos coaching staff in 2013. For the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

season, Crandell joined the expansion

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

as their quarterbacks coach. He became the offensive coordinator of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crandell, Marcus 1974 births Living people American football quarterbacks Players of Canadian football from North Carolina Calgary Stampeders players Canadian football quarterbacks East Carolina Pirates football players Edmonton Elks coaches Edmonton Elks players Memphis Maniax players Sportspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina Saskatchewan Roughriders coaches Saskatchewan Roughriders players Scottish Claymores players Ottawa Redblacks coaches Players of American football from Charlotte, North Carolina Saskatchewan Huskies football coaches 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen