Viking Senior Lineman Randin Crecelius comes from an unusual football family.
Sure, his dad, Michael, played high school and a little college ball before going into the service. He knew some people involved with professional football so he actually got a pro tryout and he played in the semi-pro ranks.
That's not what's unusual.
Crecelius' older sister Chelsie, now 24 years old and finishing up a degree in archeology at PSU, also played football. She was an offensive lineman her freshman and sophomore years at Cascade High School in Lake Stevens, about a half hour north of Seattle.
"She was actually better than me when she was playing, but had to stop when the coach told her he didn't want to play her anymore because she was a girl," said the 6-5, 305-pounder who is described by PSU offensive line coach Adam Kleffner as "probably our best offensive lineman right now."
For the record, Chelsie Crecelius did continue in the shot put her last two years at Cascade.
Randin Crecelius started playing football at age five. He also played baseball and basketball until he was nine. He wasn't overwhelmingly big at the time, he recalled. About that time, an arena football league was started in his area, so he was able to play football year 'round until he was 11.
Going into high school, he still wasn't that big…but he was growing…6-1 or 6-2, he remembered. As he grew his coaches began to suggest he had the skills to play college ball. He liked that because his parents kept "telling me that football wasn't forever. And I thought if could get a football scholarship, I could get a college education and my parents wouldn't have to pay. After his high school coaches encouraged him, "I knew I had to buckle down academically and in football to make it to the next level" and he finished with a solid B average.
Interest from "the next level" began with a more or less form letter from one school his sophomore year but he didn't really get serious about it until the summer between his junior and senior years when he started going to university-sponsored football summer camps.
Following his participation in the Viking summer camp, then-offensive line coach Brad Davis offered him a scholarship.
At Cascade High School, Crecelius had been named first team All-West League as an offensive and defensive lineman. He earned his team's Best Blocker Award three years running, was a team captain and voted Most Inspirational, earned a scholastic athlete award as a senior and was chosen to play in the East West All-Star Game.
So, he was getting looks from other schools, too.
He'd heard from Northern Arizona and Colorado but liked Coach Davis. "I had a mentor who asked me: 'do you want to be a small fish in a big pond or a big fish in a smaller pond'," Crecelius recalled.
He liked how close PSU was to his home… just three hours away and his parents come to all home games. "Coach Davis showed a lot of interest in me and I liked him. So, I researched the school and I knew this was the place for me," said the social science major. "It's a big school with a small enough program that you can develop a relationship with everyone on the team and involved in the program. It's not so big that you're just a number."
After he committed, most of the other interest died away, but Wyoming came in late in the process.
"Wyoming wanted me to come visit and, mostly just for the trip, I was interested in going. They called me and said they had a number of guys they were looking at and was I going to come for a visit. Since I'd committed to PSU, I decided to skip the Wyoming trip."
While he'd earned accolades at both offensive and defensive line positions in high school, he wanted to concentrate on the offensive side of the ball. "I was better at it," he said simply.
Resigned to being a freshman redshirt, he was traveling with the team as a redshirt when the injury bug bit hard, including an injury to his friend and fellow senior Chad Bach. He took his first six snaps in that year's Northern Arizona game, competing in three games as a backup. As a sophomore he started nine games at guard.
Then, disaster struck the Viking team with the death Kyle Smith, who Crecelius described as "one of the best linemen on the team. Every position was influenced by how good he was. I was playing right tackle and after he passed the coaches asked me to take on left tackle… and they said I had to step it up," he said.
Left tackle protects the quarterback's blind side, so there's added responsibility.
"He's the blind side guy. You usually get their most dynamic pass rusher… fast, quick turnaround guy… and you have to be athletic. You have to have great footwork. You have to be fast and patient enough let them come to you," said Kleffner.
"Being asked to step into his shoes was an honor, especially because he was so good," Crecelius said. "There was a lot of pressure stepping into that position… especially following him. There's also a lot of pressure because you're protecting the quarterback's blind side and if you miss an assignment bad things can happen," he said.
Crecelius said he feels that pressure before each game, "but once the game gets underway, I don't think of that." To prepare, he's going against defensive end Davond Dade in practice, who he thinks is the Viking's best pass rusher.
And, last season, he filled Smith's shoes admirably earning third team All-Big Sky Conference.
Asked about a highlights during his first three years, Crecelius said just being part of a successful offensive line was his highlight.
"Satisfaction as an offensive lineman comes from being effective as a unit with the rest of the offensive line. We're not going to get our names in the paper or catch the eye of fans, but the big plays come when we do our job right," he said.
As to next season, Kleffner said he thinks "the sky's the limit for him. He'll get as much out of his senior year as he puts in. In terms of football he's doing the right thing. He comes to practice and works hard every day. He works to fix whatever he didn't do so well the day before. He has a lot of focus and attention to detail."
Asked what he needs to work on his senior year, Crecelius quickly answered "everything. Every day there's something new to work on. If my technique is bad one day or I have a breakdown, the coach shows me how to fix it and I work hard not to make the same mistake twice."
Crecelius' potential will undoubtedly help him when professional scouts come around this season. As a junior, he has already drawn interest. A pair of NFL teams "told me I'd passed the 'eye test', so they are thinking about me," he said.
Crecelius plans to graduate next year, but has a full work load, including summer school, until then. "Fortunately, I have a lot of electives," he said with a smile.
After his playing days are over, Crecelius would like to teach… maybe coach football. And, he wants to work with special needs kids.
He has a young cousin with Down syndrome who came to visit from Kansas last Christmas and Crecelius said he's always enjoyed hanging out with her.
He tells a story of being a senior in high school with no knowledge of Down syndrome.
"There was this girl at lunch time dancing by herself.\ So, I went up to her and asked if she liked to dance. She came over and sat with us during lunch. She sat with us a lunch every day after that… with all the basketball and football players and the rally. Next year, she was the school's homecoming queen."
