The legend of Michael Crabtree was formed in Texas, where fans knew the name and college recruiters, for football and basketball, showed up in droves. He chose football, went to Texas Tech and established himself as the best receiver in the nation.
Here in the Bay Area, though, where Crabtree has spent three seasons with the 49ers, many of the locals remain on the edge of their seats.
They’re waiting for Crabtree, who has been reasonably productive but rarely spectacular, to be the wide receiver they saw generating so many highlights during two fantastic seasons at Tech.
Waiting for that special NFL season, when his name is mentioned in conjunction with the Pro Bowl.
Crabtree may sense the lingering unease – or growing impatience – and he surely yearns to be the player the 49ers believed they were getting when they drafted him 10th overall in 2009.
Though he avoids lofty rhetoric or grand prognostications, there is reason to believe 2012 is the year we all find out what kind of player the Dallas native can be.
“I’m just feeling good, man,” Crabtree said after a recent practice. “It’s been a while. It just feels good not to have to go through so many warmups, putting on a bunch of wraps and (ointments) just to go out and play.”
Crabtree pauses and gazes toward his feet. His left foot has undergone two surgeries and is pain-free. He says it hasn’t felt this good since he was a college freshman in 2007, when he caught 134 passes, for 1,962 yards and 22 touchdowns for the Red Raiders.
It’s numbers like that which had people anticipating someone who could pick up the torch transferred from Jerry Rice to Terrell Owens but abandoned since T.O. left after the 2003 season.
Understand, though, Crabtree has not been a bust. He led the 49ers in receptions last year, catching 72 passes for 874 yards and four touchdowns. His career numbers (40 starts, 175 catches, 2,240 yards, 12 touchdowns) through three seasons compare favorably with those of such illustrious wideouts as Michael Irvin and Cris Carter.
Rice’s first three seasons were uniquely spectacular: 31 starts, 200 catches, 3,575 yards, 40 touchdowns. Owens’ first three seasons were exceptional: 35 starts, 162 catches, 2,553 yards, 26 touchdowns.
These are the statistical standards for San Francisco’s go-to wideout, and Crabtree had not met them – especially regarding touchdowns. In fairness, however, Rice and Owens caught passes from two quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame, Joe Montana and Steve Young, and a third, Jeff Garcia, who represented the 49ers in three Pro Bowls.
Crabtree has operated mostly under Alex Smith, who has been inconsistent and still is trying to convince skeptics he is championship-caliber quarterback.
Then, too, Crabtree also has entered every season under a handicap, from the lengthy holdout that took half his rookie season, a training-camp neck injury in 2010 and a second foot surgery after incurring an injury during a lockout practice last offseason.
His numbers, as they are, have been compiled despite rarely being a regular during offseason practices and never lining up in an exhibition game.
Crabtree is following a different script so far this year. He has been healthy, a regular on the practice field and in the weight room. Logic dictates he’ll be better.
Coach Jim Harbaugh anticipates as much and is finding ways to deliver that message to the receiver. The coach recently described Crabtree as having “the best hands I’ve ever seen on a wide receiver.”
Any reason to doubt the barely hidden agenda behind such a comment is to raise the bar for the receiver’s performance?
There is no psychological motive to the comments made by Smith, who is raving about the Crabtree he has seen in recent weeks.
“He’s healthy and I think he’s excited about that,” said Smith, adding he never has seen Crabtree running so well.
That was Crabtree the other day, coming off the practice field and going straight to the weights, then going over to push blocking sleds, then turning to isometric exercises. He was the last wideout to reach the locker room, following the likes of new acquisitions Randy Moss and Mario Manningham, along with rookie A.J. Jenkins.
That’s the other factor here. The standard already was high and now the receiving corps is primed to be deeper than it has been in many years.
“We’ve always had some boys who could play,” Crabtree said.
But those boys were not these boys – fast and crafty. Tight end Vernon Davis no longer is the team’s most dangerous deep threat. Opponents no longer can defend Crabtree with exotic coverage schemes. Smith should be an improved passer.
Under these circumstances, with good health, Crabtree should rise toward the top of his game. Folks in his native Texas have seen it. Folks in the Bay Area have not, and it’s time to end the wait.
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©2012 The Oakland Tribune (Oakland, Calif.)
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