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November 1, 2010He may not have been forcing opposing kickers to boot kickoffs into the stands, and he may not have been busting off a Wildcat formation first-down run over Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach. But even with the Cleveland Browns on their bye week, Pro Bowl return man and emerging receiving threat Josh Cribbs was making Cleveland fans proud as he spent his Saturday afternoon at Kent State University.
Six years removed from his Golden Flashes jersey, now making plays about 45 minutes north with the Browns, Kent State University retired Cribbs’ No. 9 jersey this past Saturday in front of thousands of fans who likely root for both teams.
And in typical Cribbs fashion, while he was to be the one to be on the recieiving end of said honor, the former quarterback turned the tables by coming armed with a $100,000 check in the name of the Kent State University football program – the amount which Cribbs estimates the school provided him through his four years with the team.
“I’m giving back to KSU,” said Cribbs to the Fox Sports broadcast team following his halftime recognition. “I’m trying to set a precedent for guys when they make it to the NFL to give back to your school so greater things can happen. We can put our school on the map.”
While at Kent, Cribbs set the record for all-time leader in total offense with 10,839 yards. His name is also atop other offensive records, including but not limited to rushing touchdowns (38), pass completions (616), passing yardage (7,169) and points scored (246). He is one of only five players in NCAA history to both rush and pass for 1,000 yards in at least two different seasons – joining such company as Vince Young and Pat White – but he took it one step further by doing it in three different seasons.
Though he did not technically graduate following his 2003 season, Cribbs continued on with his education, graduating and earning his degree this past May stating that it was important for him to show his children and fans that education was important.
Cribbs is only the fourth player to have his jersey retired at Kent State University. He joins Jim Corrigal (No. 79), Eric Wilkerson (No. 40) and nine-time Pro Bowl linebacker Jack Lambert (No. 99) – who is arguably the best player to ever come out of the mid-Ohio MAC school – in the limited and distinguished honor. Though hailing from the Washington D.C. area, Cribbs’ alma mater provides Cleveland fans with a link to consider him “one of us.” Fortunately, the Pro Bowler has returned the favor by embracing Cleveland as “home.”
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Photo by Robert J. Lucas
7 Comments
I was going to say what about Antonio Gates, but then I remembered he played basketball and not football at KSU. Amazing.
I saw Cribbs play for Kent while I was at Ohio U. Even though OU came home with the win, Cribbs was absolutely a one-man wrecking crew. It was nice to see the Browns actually get smart and sign a local university talent. I couldn’t believe he went undrafted after stacking up the stats. All you had to do was watch him play a half of football to realize that he was a freakish athlete.
Congrats to Josh!
Dude is a class act. Congrats Josh!
A+ job Cribbs. You are a hell of a dude.
Nice job Cribbs! While not born here, he sure has take on Cleveland as his home and is a great guy to have on our side!
Hell of an honor for a hell of a guy. I would be proud to see the Browns retire that #16 jersey one day! Get some Josh!
He is so f***ing awesome! I hope this guy some national credit for his off-field behavior