Willis Robert Crockett (born August 25, 1966) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He was selected in the fifth round of the

1989 NFL Draft The 1989 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 1989, at the Marriott Marq ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Georgia Tech.

Early years

Crockett attended Coffee County High School, where he played as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and wide receiver. He also practiced baseball and basketball. He accepted a football scholarship from

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. As a freshman, he was named a starter at safety, registering 47 tackles and 2 interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and earned freshman All-American honors. As a sophomore, he was converted into an

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

and earned a starting position. He collected 55 tackles (5 for loss) and 2 quarterback hurries. As a junior, he required arthroscopic surgery before the season, to fix a knee injury that limited him from the previous year. He tallied 57 tackles, one sack and led the team with 6 tackles for loss. As a senior, he was a part of a defense that ranked 14th in the nation with 384.2 total yards allowed per game and seventh in passing with 138.9 yards allowed. He posted 67 tackles, 6 sacks (second on the team), 14 quarterback pressures (led the team), 4 tackles for loss (second on the team) and 3 fumble recoveries (tied for the team lead). He also received All-ACC and honorable-mention All-American honors.

Professional career

Crockett was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round (119th overall) of the

. As a rookie, he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament during training camp and was placed on the injured reserve list on August 28. In

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, he was an early training camp surprise, but was slowed by a sprained ankle and waived injured on September 3. He was re-signed on September 12, to be a backup middle linebacker and also play on special teams. He appeared in 13 games, registering 9 defensive tackles, including 4 in his first regular season game against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

on September 16. He was released before the start of the

1991 season File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crockett, Willis 1966 births Living people People from Douglas, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football linebackers Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Dallas Cowboys players