The 2015 Georgia football recruiting class produced many stars from Roquan Smith to Deandre Baker, but one of its biggest stars had the lowest expectations.
The 2015 Georgia recruiting class has gone down in history as a class that helped build the juggernaut defense Georgia football fields today.
Only one offensive star emerged from the 2015 class (Terry Godwin). That group was all about defense. Five of the six highest-ranked players from the class played defense and each of them lived up to expectations.
Trenton Thompson was the bully of Georgia’s interior defense. Jonathan Ledbetter was a unique 3-4 defensive end who could play on the edge or inside a linebacker. Natrez Patrick and D’Andre Walker were solid linebackers. Roquan Smith is one of the best players in Georgia football history.
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Further down the list is Deandre Baker as just a three-star recruit. Baker is also one of the program’s best all-time players. Joining him towards the bottom of the class were some solid backups like Michael Barnett, Juwan Taylor and DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle.
Keep looking through the class and you’ll see a name at the bottom of the list that shouldn’t have belonged among the aforementioned players. Yet, through position changes, coaching changes and deep group of players ahead of him, this player emerged as a leader on defense as a redshirt senior. That player is, of course, Tae Crowder.
Crowder signed with Georgia as a wide receiver and not a highly recruited one. 247Sports Composite ranked Crowder as the No. 211 wide receiver in the nation and the No. 1,868 player overall in the 2015 class. After signing, Crowder moved to running back and redshirted the 2015 season.
He remained on offense through the middle of the 2016 season, even scoring two touchdowns for the black team in the G-Day Game. With plenty of depth at running back, but a need for more inside linebackers, new head coach Kirby Smart moved Crowder to defense.
Crowder took the change in stride and managed to appear in all 15 games as a redshirt sophomore in 2017. He mostly played special teams but, but would often play on defense late in games even making a pair of tackles against both Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech.
Crowder became a household name in the Bulldog nation for one heads-up play in kickoff coverage in the 2018 Rose Bowl. With Georgia trailing 31-14 following an Oklahoma touchdown with around 10 seconds left in the first half, the Sooners attempted a squib kick in trying to run out the clock.
The kick went straight to Crowder, who made the grab and fell down to preserve the time. One pass put Georgia in field goal range and Rodrigo Blankenship booted a long field goal to cut the score to 31-17 going into halftime. Crowder’s play was the beginning of a comeback and Georgia eventually won the game 54-48 in overtime.
From that one heads-up play, a star was born. Crowder played extensively through the last 28 games of his Georgia football career, making starts in 19 of them including every game as a senior in 2019. Crowder finished fifth on the team with 58 tackles in 2018 with six of his tackles resulting in a loss. He also intercepted two passes and recovered a fumble.
As a senior, Crowder had the second-most tackles on the team with 62. His career as a Bulldog came full circle when he scored a touchdown on a passing play against Tennessee in 2019. A hard sack by teammate Eric Stokes forced a fumble. Crowder picked up the ball and ran 60 yards into the end zone for a score.
Tae Crowder was the last player on the 2015 Georgia football recruiting class and he became that great class’s last star. After everyone else in the class had already departed, Crowder had his best season as a member of one Georgia’s best defenses.
No one thing defines Crowder’s Georgia football career. He was a playmaker on defense filling up an entertaining highlight film. But he was also a great down-to-down player, excelling at the little things necessary to bolster a strong defense.
Crowder’s is a story of perseverance, from being a lowly ranked wide receiver, through a whirlwind of changes as an underclassman, to excelling and leading on defense as an upperclassman. He leaves behind a legacy in Athens he and the entire Georgia football program and fan base can be proud of.