Willing to stick his neck out

Crane relishes his chance to quarterback Eagles in post-Ryan era

He was all arms and legs, with solid athletic skills.

Soccer and basketball - not football - had been Chris Crane's games when he was growing up. But one day he was taking a break from soccer camp when he noticed they were holding tryouts for pee-wee football and decided to join in. "You're a quarterback, go with them," said one coach. "You're an offensive tackle, go with them," said another coach.

He made the team and size won out; he was an offensive tackle. Until, that is, a game when his team's offense was struggling. With his team trailing, 6-0, shortly before halftime, the coach told him, "You're the quarterback now. Let's see what you can do."

Crane did something, throwing a 20-yard touchdown pass. He started every game after that at quarterback.

Fast-forward three years and Crane was a 6-foot-4-inch, 174-pound, 14-year-old freshman hoping for a spot on the varsity at Trinity High, a Catholic school with 600-plus students in Camp Hill, Pa., near his hometown of Mechanicsburg and a fertile area for football talent.

The coaches' plan was for Crane to get some experience playing junior varsity. The kid was comfortable with that. But then stuff happened - again.

A few days before the opening game of the 2000 season, the starting quarterback went down with a broken collarbone. Trinity coach Jeff Borger pondered starting his tall, gangly freshman almost until game time, before deciding to do just that.

"You're my guy," said Borger. Crane, obviously nervous, just nodded.

Crane's first pass was complete - to the other team. When he came off the field, Borger said to him, "What? You never thought you would throw an interception?"

On his next attempt, Crane completed another pass - for a touchdown - and Trinity romped to an easy win. The following week brought an upgrade in competition, and even Borger had his doubts. He called Crane's parents to see if they would object to their son starting against tougher competition.

Crane's parents asked him what he thought. "I want to play," he said.

And so he did, and then started every game for the rest of his high school career, as Trinity compiled a 31-11 record and Crane established school records for completions, passing yards, and touchdown passes.

Eight years have passed since that late summer decision, and the kid is now a fifth-year senior at Boston College, and once again it is his time.

"I want to play," said Crane with a smile, but the smile isn't indicative of his competitive nature, according to BC coaches and his teammates.

Crane will play after basically watching and waiting the past four years, including the last two seasons behind Matt Ryan, who was the No. 3 pick in April's NFL draft.

"It's Chris's team now," said coach Jeff Jagodzinski, who like everyone else connected with the Eagles program is anxious about what he can expect from Crane, now a 6-4, 239-pounder.

"I started in every sport I ever played for five or six years," said Crane, who will direct the Eagles when they put on their pads for the first time this afternoon. "Going back to grade school. At BC, it's been a little different. I prepared myself to redshirt and kept hoping my shot would come, but the opportunity never presented itself to me.

"I did my best to keep the faith and hope one day things would work out. I told myself that if all else failed, I would have my fifth year to play. After all is said and done, I have my fifth year, and that's what I've been preparing for mentally. This year is going to be the start. I know what I have to do, I'm ready for it, and I'm excited to have the opportunity."

Crane said the feeling in his gut is similar to the one he had as a freshman in high school, one of nervous anticipation. "I was 14 and I was playing with 18- or 19-year-olds; it was men vs. boys when I started," he said with a laugh. "We had a lot of seniors and they ruled the school. They picked on me a little bit, but they always prodded me. They needed me as much as I needed them."

The situation is similar at BC. The Eagles have to adjust to the post-Ryan era and need Crane to step in and play like an experienced veteran, not a quarterback who has thrown 36 passes in his career, with only one touchdown.

The feeling at BC is that the questions about Crane involve experience, not ability.

"The whole deal is that he just hasn't played the game," said offensive coordinator Steve Logan, who has worked with Crane extensively the past six months. "Everything else is in place. He's 6-4, [239], and runs a 4.65 40. He has what you are after. Mentally, he's what you are after. But until the bullets start flying, he doesn't know. Nor do we know how good he can be. That's the dilemma we have and it's got to be solved in the first three games."

The Eagles open against Kent State Aug. 30 in Cleveland, and Logan does not minimize the importance of the game for Crane, as well as BC.

"The first game is huge," said Logan. "In the second game we're expecting a huge improvement, and in the third game we're looking for an even more polished product, and after the third game you are going to get what you get."

What the Eagles have in Crane is someone who thought he was going to succeed, and quickly. He had narrowed his choices to Stanford, Virginia, Clemson, and BC. "I always liked Clemson because down in South Carolina, it was all about football and I was intrigued by that," said Crane. "They had an interest and I reciprocated. But in the end, it came to the city of Boston and the program BC had. With the city and the academics, Boston College had just more to offer."

Crane said that while he learned a lot sitting behind Ryan the past few years, the frustration meter was sometimes off the charts.

"It was always frustrating for me as a competitive person to not play," said Crane. "If you don't play, you feel you become insignificant. At times, I said to myself, 'Why did I choose this place?' But then I looked at things and said the guy ahead of me just got drafted [in the first round], and studying under him I got to see how it's done and done right. I wouldn't change things for anything."

Logan says he has seen changes in Crane as he has prepared to take over the Eagles' offense.

"I said in the spring that once Matt leaves, you will see Chris blossom, and that has happened," said Logan. "Verbally, the way he carries himself with his teammates, you can just see it."

Crane concedes he has grown weary of the life-without-Ryan questions. It is time to move on and he says he is ready.

"I still have one year to play," said Crane. "I feel we can have as good a team as we ever had. I have one more year to basically make or break my entire football career."

Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.