Mocs Kicker Clayton Crile Receives National Honor After His Performance in Win Over Mercer

Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) Mercer and Chattanooga feature some of the top talent in the Southern Conference.

But the best player on the field during their game last Saturday was a kicker.

Chattanooga’s Clayton Crile dominated the match-up with his booming punts and school record five field goals.

His performance even earned him an FCS national honor.

Reporter:”Was he basically the MVP of the game?”
Said head coach Rusty Wright:”Well I mean. He was pretty important Saturday. There’s no doubt about that.”
Even Crile was taken aback by his performance down in Macon.
Said Crile:”Halftime I was like. Do I have four field goals? And I didn’t really realize it because I’ve never had. I don’t know if I have had three field goals before this year.”
Besides the field goals, Crile had 7 kickoffs with two touchbacks, and five punts with three downed inside the 20. Talk about a weapon. No wonder Crile was named the Fed Ex Ground National Special teams player of the week. Former New York Giants linebacker Gary Reasons came to campus to present Crile the award.
Said Reasons:”That effort and everything he did in his game of kicking, punting, kickoffs, you name it. Put that team in a much, much better position every time he left the field. You know there’s 12,000 FCS football players across the country. 12,000. That’s a lot. And Clayton is the one we’re recognizing this week and very well deserved.”
Crile is pretty big for a kicker. 6-2 in the neighborhood of 220 pounds.
Said Wright:”He doesn’t think he’s a kicker. He thinks he is a middle linebacker. He’s a weight room guy.”
Said defensive back Reuben Lowery:”Yeah he thinks he’s a D-lineman. (laughs) He thinks he’s like J.J. Watt. (laughs)
Said Crile:”I like to come at football as a football player and not like a regular kicker might. Kind of like Tiger Woods. He treats the game of golf more of a competitor than a lot of golfers might.”