MACON, Ga. — Clayton Crile has gone from not seeing his previous college football program win much to not expecting his current team to ever lose.
Crile came from Catwaba College — an NCAA Division II program in Salisbury, North Carolina, where he was an All-American punter in 2021 — as part of a special teams recruiting haul for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in the offseason. The Mocs also picked up placekicker Jude Kelley from Georgia Tech, and with Crile having handled all kicking duties at Catawba, the additions gave UTC coach Rusty Wright and his staff options for all kicking purposes.
The Mocs were the first team to make an offer to Crile, a graduate transfer, once the 6-foot-2, 228-pounder from Duncan, South Carolina, decided to use his additional year of eligibility granted to NCAA athletes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Catawba played just two games in the 2021 spring season).
"It's very different. I think that this is the first time that I have kind of been this far from home, being with my parents, and now, Chattanooga is home," Crile said. "As soon as I came, it felt great; everybody's so nice inside the university and out. I love the city, and you can't go a block without seeing two churches. I really like Chattanooga, and I think my wife (Kaylee) loves it as well.
"A big factor was obviously the coaches and feeling a connection with them, and I could definitely just see myself playing for them, so looking at that and the fact that we love the community in Chattanooga as well."
When Kelley went down recently with a lower-body injury, it was an easy transition for Crile to take over placekicking. At Catawba he made 22 field goals, including a school-record 53-yarder, and 68 extra points. He has thrived in that role in the past three weeks, making all 10 of his field-goal attempts.
Included was a 5-for-5 performance in Saturday's 22-10 win over Mercer in Macon, Georgia, a place where the Mocs have struggled since the Bears' move back to the Southern Conference in 2014. During that stretch, UTC had one win there in four prior tries prior to Saturday's victory at Five Star Stadium.
In addition to his field goals of 32, 37, 37, 45 and 27 yards, Crile delivered the extra point after UTC's lone touchdown of the game, a 30-yard pass from Chase Artopoeus to Sam Phillips in the second half.
"He's amazing. There's two guys that we cannot have go down or we won't be able to replace him, and one is (Artopoeus) and one is Clayton," linebacker Kobe Joseph said Saturday night. "Those guys are integral to scoring points and we can't play without them, so he's awesome.
"Everyone who knows Clayton knows that he is going to get it done."
UTC Athletics photo by Michael Wade / Clayton Crile joined UTC this year as a graduate transfer with the Mocs adding him primarily for his punting ability, but an injury to Jude Kelley has expanded his responsibilities to all kicking duties, and he has made the transition a smooth one for the team.Of course, Crile came to Chattanooga to punt, and he has thrived in that role, averaging 44.7 yards per attempt, which is the best in the Southern Conference this season. His 10 field goals also lead the league.
And most importantly for him, he's affecting winning. Catawba won just seven games in his four seasons, but with the victory at Mercer, the Mocs are 5-2 overall and 4-1 in the SoCon ahead of East Tennessee State (2-4, 1-2) visiting Finley Stadium at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The latest win followed a heartbreaking 52-50 home loss to Western Carolina, and while the Mocs aren't atop the SoCon standings, beating Mercer helped UTC's league title hopes endure.
"Since the season started, I haven't went into a game not thinking that we're going to win, so I take it week by week and really try not to think about the next one," Crile said ahead of the Mercer game. "Going into this week, I feel we're going to win. I'll probably think the same thing week after week, and if that all falls into place — obviously, there's some other game outside of our control that might change the outcome of some things — I think we'll be set up where we want to be, and we'll be happy with it if that happens."
Crile has been solid on field goals, he's been solid on punts, and for the most part, he's been solid on kickoffs, with 24 of his 49 this season resulting in touchbacks, something that special teams coach Mike Yeager called "a huge advantage." In the four previous seasons, UTC kickers had a combined total of 20 kickoffs go in the end zone.
It has become an additional weapon for Wright's Mocs as they seek to be the better team in all phases.
"Having a guy like that is huge, but the biggest thing is he's a football player, not just a kicker, a football player, and that's the thing you love about him," the fifth-year head coach said. "He's jacked up over there on the sidelines and he's into it. It's like he's been here with us for the whole time. He's a talented young man, got a strong leg, can do a lot of different things, and I'm glad we got him."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.