TAMPA, Fla. – Maybe a barber pole will soon appear in the Lee Roy Selmon Athletics Center and D.J. Crowther will be seen with scissors and shears in hand giving his teammates the treatment.
“I could,” he said laughing at the suggestion of cutting his teammates’ hair. “I used to cut my little brothers’ hair back home, and my friends.”
The oldest of four boys born to Renisha and Darius Sr., Crowther, whose initial stand for Darius Jr., comes from a family that knows how to make people look good. Shear’s Beauty & Barber Shop has been a family business in the Hunter Point section of San Francisco for decades. Close to the site of the former Candlestick Park, the business is a neighborhood institution.
“I remember going there as a kid and getting a haircut and stuff like that,” said Crowther. “My father would cut my hair, my uncles would cut my hair and my brothers, and I would hang out there.”
Crowther spent part of his youth in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to Sacramento, where he attended high school. As he was earning all-region player of the year honors at Christian Brothers High, he was mulling where to attend college and play football. The Ivy League came calling.
Ancient Eight and Big Green
Crowther had several offers, including West Point, before deciding to cross the continent to attend Dartmouth. The 5-foot-11 and 215-pound running back received an undergraduate degree in sociology in December, which followed a season in which he ran for 929 yards to place second in the Ivy League. Crowther arrived at USF in the winter, enrolled in a master’s program and brought with him an on-field resume that includes 1,312 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns in 31 games with the Big Green.
“It was a great opportunity to be able to experience the Ivy League and be around a lot of great-minded people,” he said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity being in a prestigious academic environment.”
With an undergrad degree and a year of eligibility remaining, Crowther desired to play football while adding to his academic credentials. He found the opportunity to get the best of both worlds at USF difficult to pass up. While battling for reps in the back field, Crowther has been enjoying the learning environment of an entrepreneurship program.
“I definitely wanted to get my master’s to open up the doors to other opportunities,” he said. “I would like to have my own business one day.”
Real estate might be one of those opportunities. It is an area of interest that piqued Crowther’s interest at Dartmouth.
“I was interested (in the dynamics) of buying and selling houses, also owning properties that can be rented to make money,” he said, noting that he went through a program – Tuck Investment Banking Bootcamp — at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. “It really opened my eyes about private equity and those types of things. It was very interesting.”
So were the New Hampshire winters. Though it did not snow for any late-season Ivy League matchups, Old Man Winter breathed some serious cold air.
“It was certainly an adjustment,” he said of getting accustomed to playing in sub-freezing temps. “It did not snow for any of the games, but it could get down to 10 degrees and we would have heaters (behind the bench).”
Plenty of heat, food in Tampa
There will be no need for heaters this season at Raymond James Stadium, where Crowther will make his USF debut Saturday evening (7:00, ESPN+) against FIU.
“The humidity here is crazy,” Crowther exclaimed, with a wide grin on his face.
It has been a wonderful several months in Tampa for Crowther, whose cousin, Julien Neal, is a defensive back selected in the fourth round by the Seahawks in April out of Arkansas.
“The running back room, we’re very close,” he said of a group that has a “collective” vote on where in Tampa to partake of a nice meal. “There are definitely nice restaurants here. Soul food, barbecue, it’s all been good. A lot of nice places.”
New campus, new town, new teammates, new vibe. It has all been good for Crowther off Fowler Avenue.
“Starting with the coaching staff, it has all been really good since I got here,” he said. “It’s a great group of guys I am looking forward to playing with.”
READ: Brian Hartline’s USF Bulls Can Be “The Hardest, Toughest Playing Team In America”
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