MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University senior running back Justin Crawford has been selected to participate in the College Gridiron Showcase and Symposium from Jan. 6-10, in Addison, Texas, as announced by the organization.
 
The College Gridiron Showcase & Symposium is the first all-star event of the 2018 college football postseason. The showcase and symposium provides exposure and education for top college senior football players from around the country and the players are selected by a panel of football experts.

Players will come in for five days and four nights to be evaluated by professional football league scouts. The players will receive professional coaching, mentoring, life coaching and seminars that will benefit them as they move forward in their professional lives in or out of football.

This is the first all-star event to implement an OTA style format for football professionals. The format showcases the player through practices and a controlled scrimmage to scouts and executived from top professional leagues such as the NFL and CFL. The players also attend meetings, practice, perform individual drills, 1 on 1's, team drills and in many cases have personal interviews with the scouts and executives from these professional clubs.

Crawford, a second-team All-Big 12 performer, was the third leading rusher in the Big 12 Conference with 1,061 yards and seven touchdowns. He had seven 100-yard rushing performances, including a season-high 125 yards against Kansas. He finished with multiple touchdowns against East Carolina (2) and Delaware State (3). He became the first WVU running back to rush for back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons since Noel Devine in 2008-09.
  
As a junior in 2016, Crawford finished with 1,184 yards and four touchdowns and was named the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year as well as a All-Big 12 First-Team selection. He had a career-best 331 yards against Oklahoma and had 209 yards against Baylor.

Crawford played his first two seasons at Northwest Mississippi Community College where he set a combined 12 school records, including career rushing yards (3,161), rushing touchdowns (30), all-purpose yards (3,993) and total points scored (220).

The Columbus, Ga., native was named the 2015 Spalding® NJCAA Football Offensive Player of the Year after leading the Rangers to the NJCAA National Title and also garnered NJCAA All-American, All-Region 23 and First Team All-MACJC honors in each of his two seasons.