By Duane Cochran for FightingFalcons.com

The list isn't long, but it's certainly distinguished.
 
Jarrod Furgason, Cooper Hibbs, Bryan Harman and now the most recent addition – Takwan Crews-Naylor.
 
Crews-Naylor, Fairmont State University's senior quarterback, recently moved into fourth place in school history in career passing yards (5,140), career touchdown passes (46) and career total offense (5,321) and needs just eight more completions to move into fourth place in Fairmont State history in that category as well.
 
"That's great company to be in," said seventh-year Fairmont State head coach Jason Woodman. "When you talk about those three guys and all of the things they did here during their careers at Fairmont State those are three really good guys to be in the conversation with."
 
Crews-Naylor knows the history of Fairmont State football and knows seeing his name on those lists puts him in the company of two Fairmont State University Athletic Hall of Famers in Furgason and Harman and a sure-bet third one in Hibbs when he becomes eligible for the HOF in the fall of 2022.
 
"It's amazing," Crews-Naylor said. "I never would've thought in a million years that I'd ever be in this position. When I came out of high school I never thought I'd be where I am today.
 
"When I first saw I was fourth I just read it again and again and again. When I was being recruited in high school I had a lot of coaches tell me 'I don't think you can play quarterback in college.' Now, having played the position here and to see my name on those lists with those guys who I have so much respect for, especially Cooper because I was fortunate enough to play with him and learn from him for two seasons, it's really a blessing for me and certainly very humbling.
 
"A lot of the credit for what I've accomplished goes to the coaching staff here who believed in me and my abilities from the beginning and to the number of talented players I've been fortunate to be surrounded by here during my career. I've always said my job, honestly, is pretty easy on this team. I just have to get us lined up and then either hand the ball off or throw it to someone."
 
The former prep football standout and basketball player from Loudoun County High School in Leesburg, Va. had a number of offers coming out of high school, but despite throwing for 3,689 yards and 27 touchdowns during his career, as Crews-Naylor noted, no school except Fairmont State wanted him to play quarterback.
 
"Most of the schools weren't really sure what they wanted to do with me," Crews-Naylor said. "They were listing me and recruiting me as an athlete. Fairmont was really the only school interested in me playing quarterback. Now, looking back it's amazing how it all worked out. In my heart I really wanted to play quarterback and coming here on my visit I saw they believed in me and wanted to give me that opportunity. That made the difference."
 
Crews-Naylor, however, didn't commit immediately to the Falcons.
 
"I just wasn't sure at first, but my dad, during our visit here, told me 'Tae this is the place for you. Trust me,'" Crews-Naylor said. "He never wavered on that decision. Almost daily he'd ask me 'Is today the day you're going to commit to Fairmont.' I took some time and after listening to him and talking to some of my teachers, who were from this area and familiar with Fairmont and having them tell me I'd love it here, I decided this was the place for me.
 
"Looking back there's no question that's the best decision I've made in my life to this point. What's the old saying? Father knows best. He did. I love it here and I love being a part of this school and this program."
 
Like most true freshmen when Crews-Naylor first got to Fairmont he had to learn a valuable virtue – patience. He wanted to play immediately and felt confident in his abilities, but admits now in hindsight he was no where near ready to take the field in college.
 
"They told me early on they were going to redshirt me and that they wanted me to run the scout offense," Crews-Naylor said. "That was disappointing to me at the time, but there's absolutely no question it was the right decision. As much as I wanted to play I wasn't ready.
 
"I tell all of the young guys now to value their redshirt seasons and their time on the scout team. They're getting a year to learn and a chance to go against some of the best players in the league. Take that experience serious and learn all that you can from it. The young guys also need to learn how to balance school work and not fall behind in your studies. Grades are so important. If you don't have good ones you're not going to play."
 
Early on during the fall of 2015 Crews-Naylor got his welcome to college football moment running the scout team offense against the Falcons' first-team defense which included players like Marcus Porter, Quincy Redmon, Jacob Jean-Charles and Stephen Turner.
 
"The first day I didn't know I was live and I got hit by either Stephen (Turner) or Quincy (Redmon) and I was like holy crap," Crews-Naylor said. "Right then and there I knew I wasn't in high school any more. I went every day against guys like Jacob Jean-Charles, Marcus, Quincy and Stephen. Those guys were great players who were all-league, all-region and All-Americans and at the age of 18 I had the opportunity to face them every day. What a learning experience for me that was. I learned so many little and different things then that now when I'm facing a good defense I'm like I've seen that or I know how to deal with that. Redshirting was without a doubt the best thing for me."
 
Crews-Naylor also got to hone his skills his first two seasons at Fairmont behind starting quarterback Cooper Hibbs, a player who finished his stellar career second in school history in career passing yards (8,883) and second in career touchdown passes (66).
 
"I was fortunate in high school that I was kinda in a similar situation in that I had a senior quarterback when I was a sophomore to learn from, but with Coop it was more hands on," Crews-Naylor said. "I remember our second game my redshirt freshman year was a road game at Concord and we lost and I didn't go on the trip. We had meetings on Sunday and coach Woodman asked me what I did that weekend. I told him I went home, saw my girlfriend and just hung out. I remember Coop jumping in and saying 'You need to travel man and learn.' After that I went to every road game and it definitely was a great learning experience for me. Seeing him prep for games on the road, watching film and writing down plays and scripting things in the hotel it made me realize it's so much more than just throwing footballs around.
 
"Coop was just a very detail-oriented guy in practice. He also was a good leader. Marcus and Quincy were the vocal leaders of our team, but when Coop did talk everyone listened. He was a leader who didn't have to yell to get his point across. He was good at talking to people one-on-one and was very respected in our locker room. Seeing that made me want to be like him and earn the respect of the guys. Hopefully I've done that."
 
Talk to Crews-Naylor's teammates and they'll tell you, without reservation, that he has.
 
"Tae is my guy," said junior receiver Javon Hayes. "Whenever I feel like I'm getting lackadaisical or not on top of my game Tae will say 'Come on Von we're all we got.' That's one of his big sayings and that's the way we all feel on this team. We have a brotherhood and a strong bond with one another. I know I can go to him and talk to him about anything at anytime. We're lucky to have him around.
 
"He's a good leader. He's very poised at all times. He never gets too high or too low and that helps us all stay level-headed and on task both on the field and off of it."
 
As a sophomore in 2017 many thought Crews-Naylor would take over the starting quarterback role for the Falcons, but Fairmont recruited senior JuJuan Young-Battle, a transfer from Division I Alabama State, who came in during the spring and won the starting job in fall camp. In the seventh game of the season, however, Young-Battle suffered a season-ending broken collarbone and Crews-Naylor was thrust into the starting role.
 
"A lot of people think I resented JuJuan. Nothing could be further from the truth," Crews-Naylor said. "He was a great player with D-I experience and he was another guy who I learned a lot from. His experience both on and off of the field helped me. We're still very close. We text each other all of the time.
 
"Not only did both JuJuan and Coop teach me a lot about football and playing quarterback on the field, but they also taught me how to conduct myself off of the field when I was in public or in the classroom. I learned I needed to be respectful of my professors and just fans and people in general when I was in public. There's honestly so much more to being a college football player than just playing football. I'm always trying to stress that to our young guys."
 
With Young-Battle out, Crews-Naylor took over the starting quarterback role during the 2017 season with Fairmont State coming off back-to-back losses and sporting a 4-3 overall record. He helped lead the Falcons to four consecutive victories to end the season at 8-3. That year he completed 60-of-103 passes for 690 yards and four touchdowns. He was intercepted just twice.
 
"I hated that JuJuan got hurt," Crews-Naylor said. "You never want to see your teammate suffer an injury let alone a season-ending one. I'll never forget I was sitting in my room when coach Woody called me and asked me if I was ready. I didn't realize he (JuJuan) was hurt that bad.
 
"I remember having a ton of emotions. I was sad for him, but I knew I had to step up for our team. I was both anxious and nervous at the same time, but I told myself this is what you've been preparing for. Go out and do your best. I knew no one expected me to single-handedly win games for us, but I also knew I couldn't lose games for us either. It was another valuable learning experience for me. Those four games really helped prepare me for the following season."
 
In 2018 the starting job was Crews-Naylor's and he responded by helping to lead the Falcons to a 9-2 record by completing 155-of-250 passes for 2,370 yards and 23 touchdown – the third-most in a single season at Fairmont State. He also suffered just six interceptions. Fairmont, unfortunately, narrowly missed the NCAA Division II Playoffs that fall.
 
This season many felt the Falcons were poised to make a run at the playoffs, but four losses by seven points or less have left Fairmont State with just a 2-5 record.
 
Crews-Naylor, arguably, is having his best season in a Falcon uniform. In seven games he's completed 111-of-184 passes for 1,930 yards and 18 touchdowns and has been intercepted nine times. He ranks 11th in the nation in NCAA Division II in passing yards and is tied for 13th in the country in touchdown passes.
 
"The thing about Tae is he understood early on the value of being patient and the importance of preparation," Woodman said. "He put his time in, worked hard and every season he's gotten progressively better. This year his leadership skills have been tremendous. His teammates really rally around him.
 
"He does a great job of executing game plans and getting the football into our playmakers' hands. When you're playing quarterback that's all you can ask. He's been a joy for me to coach and I'm certainly going to miss him. We all are, but we've still got three big games left to play and I know he's looking forward to getting back out there this weekend."
 
Saturday Crews-Naylor, who will graduate from Fairmont State in December with a degree in criminal justice, and his Falcon teammates will host West Liberty at 2 p.m. at Duvall-Rosier Field for homecoming.
 
This fall Fairmont's offense is sixth in the nation in total offense (517.1 yards per game) and 16th in scoring (40.6), but despite the offense's success it has not translated into wins for the Falcons.
 
"This season has been hard on all of us because in each one of our losses we were in positions to win the game and didn't get it done," Crews-Naylor said. "One thing we have on this team is a bunch of competitive guys who aren't used to losing so that's been a very humbling experience. The thing about athletics and especially college athletics is that you just never know. There's no guarantees. It doesn't matter if I play well and we lose. It's a team game. We win as a team and lose as a team. That's the way it is on this team and that's the way it should be.
 
"I'll tell you this. It's been a wild ride here the last year going from 9-2 to where we are right now, but you know I don't know if I'd change anything. I mean sure I'd love for us to be unbeaten right now. We all would, but sometimes you have to face reality and reality in life is that things aren't always going to be great or go like you want them to go or expect them to go. Sometimes you have to accept that, learn from it and grow from it. Since I've been at Fairmont I've learned a lot of life lessons through football. I'm thankful for those lessons. They're going to make me a better person and a stronger person.
 
"Now, what I do know about our team is we've got a bunch of guys who will not quit. The camaraderie on this team is unbelievable. We're a family and we always will be. I thought in high school we had something special and we did, but here it's on a whole different level. I've made lifelong friends and for that I'll forever be thankful."
 
Although he's the trigger man for one of Fairmont's most successful offenses in recent years, Crews-Naylor is the first guy to credit others for the team's successes.
 
"I'll be honest I'm surrounded by a lot of great players," he said. "Our line, that's the reason we've had the success we've had offensively the past two seasons. I hate the fact that those guys Zach (Cox), Chandler (Zavala), Tyreke (McKeithan), Lonnell (McGuire) and Kap (Garrett Kapstein-O'Brien) and our tight ends Shane (Faett) and Josh (Nevers) do so much for our team and get so little credit. They deserve so much more. We've had what three times this season with two running backs over 100 yards in the same game? That's incredible.
 
"The way they protect me too is unreal. Last year I was hurting with a knee injury. In the Shepherd game I tried to run early and couldn't. I remember coming to the bench and telling Lonnell, Kap and Chandler I can't move. I can't run. They said 'Don't worry man. We got you. We'll protect you.' I think I got sacked like three times the rest of the season and none of them were anything major. I see those guys getting nicked up, banged around and rolled up on constantly and every play they're out there laying it on the line for the rest of us to make plays. I've just got mad respect for what they do for us.
 
"Then look at our backs. Khalik (Hamlin), Tyree (Randolph), Rakeem (Darden) and Tim (Smith). They're all so talented and they all produce and then there's the receivers Dre (Andre Hall), Javon (Hayes), Shawn (Harris), who is hurt and I miss a lot because we came up together, Aaron (Lewis), Matt (McDonald), Isiah (Smith) and Mike (Nuzum). What a talented group they are. I'm so fortunate to have those guys to throw the ball to.
 
"Like I've said many times I'm just a small part of the equation here. I'm only able to do what I do because I'm surrounded by great talent and great guys who, no matter what, are always willing to lay it on the line every game and every play for our team. I'm truly blessed to be the quarterback at Fairmont State. I really am."
 
Spoken like the true leader and man Takwan Crews-Naylor has become over the course of the last four-and-a-half years at Fairmont State.