| Personal information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | January 6, 1974 Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. | ||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||
| Weight | 205 lb (93 kg) | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| Position | Quarterback | ||||
| Uniform no. | 8 | ||||
| High school | Roanoke (Robersonville, North Carolina) | ||||
| College | East Carolina (1993–1996) | ||||
| NFL draft | 1997: undrafted | ||||
| Career history | |||||
Playing | |||||
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Coaching | |||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||
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| Career CFL statistics | |||||
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Marcus Cornelius Crandell (born January 6, 1974) is an American former professional football quarterback and coach. He played 11 seasons for the Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1997 to 2008 while also spending time in NFL Europe and the XFL. Crandell was named the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player after the Stampeders won the 89th Grey Cup in 2001. He also won a Grey Cup championship with the Roughriders in 2007 as the team's backup quarterback.
Crandell played high school football at Roanoke High School, located in Robersonville, NC. He went on to play college football at East Carolina University, where he established more than 30 passing and offensive records. He was a candidate for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award in 1996. He led the Pirates to two post-season bowl appearances, including a 19-13 victory over Stanford in the 1995 Liberty Bowl.
On May 2, 1997, Crandell signed as a free agent with the Edmonton Eskimos. He dressed in 4 regular season games that season.
In 1998, Crandell dressed in all 18 regular season games, the West Semi-Final, and the West Final.
In 1999, Crandell dressed in 13 regular season games. He started two games, one against Hamilton on August 27, and the other against Montreal on October 23. Crandell was 0-2 as a starter that season. He also dressed in the West Semi-Final loss to Calgary. He relieved starting quarterback Nealon Greene and threw 14 passes and 1 touchdown.
In February 2000, Crandell was granted free agency status.
In February 2000, Crandell signed a two-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL. The Chiefs assigned Crandell to the Scottish Claymores in NFL Europe. He played with the Claymores in 2000. Crandell was released by the Chiefs in July 2000.
It was announced that the Green Bay Packers signed Crandell on August 2, 2000 and released him on August 29.
In the 2001 XFL Draft, Crandell was selected in the first round, third overall by the Memphis Maniax. He played with the Maniax in 2001, the XFL's first and only season.
On May 31, 2001, Crandell signed as a free agent with the Calgary Stampeders. He helped the Stampeders finish second place in the West Division. Crandell quarterbacked the Stampeders to victories in the West Semi-Final and West Final. In the Grey Cup, Crandell led Calgary to victory over the favoured Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and was named Grey Cup MVP.
He spent a total of four seasons with Calgary, but was never able to duplicate his success from the 2001 playoffs.
In March 2005, Crandell signed as a free agent with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He started the season as backup to Nealon Greene, a former teammate in Edmonton in 1999. Crandell relieved Greene in game 6 against Ottawa, game 7 against Montreal, and game 8 against Ottawa. In game 10, the Labour Day Classic against Winnipeg, Crandell got his first start as a Roughrider. The Roughriders won 45-26. Including this game, Crandell won his first five starts. However, he would lose his next three starts, and Greene would start the final game of the regular season in BC. Saskatchewan qualified for the East Semi-Final via the crossover. Crandell started the game against Montreal, but the Roughriders lost 30-14.
In 2006, the Roughriders acquired Kerry Joseph after the Ottawa Renegades ceased operations. Crandell started the season as his backup, but started against Hamilton in game 9 when Joseph was out with injury. Unfortunately, Crandell got injured early in the game, and was replaced by Rocky Butler. The Roughriders won 46-15. Crandell started the last game of the regular season in Edmonton, which Saskatchewan lost 20-18.
In 2007, Crandell was once again the backup to Joseph. Crandell started game 17 against Edmonton, which the Roughriders won 36-29 in overtime. Joseph won the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award. The Roughriders won the 2007 Grey Cup, Crandell's second Grey Cup win.
In 2008, Joseph was traded to the Toronto Argonauts. Crandell started the season as the starting quarterback for the Roughriders, but suffered an injury in game 2 against BC. Crandell was 3-2 as the Roughrider starting quarterback, with wins against Edmonton, BC, and Calgary, and losses against Calgary and Edmonton. Following the Edmonton loss in August, the Roughriders were 6-2. However, they acquired Michael Bishop from Toronto, which prompted the Roughriders to release Crandell.
As of 2025, the CFL lists Crandell with 64 games started at quarterback position. Previous CFL lists have a total of 67 games started (Calgary 48, Saskatchewan 16, Edmonton 3). The official 2025 CFL guide has Crandell's starting quarterback record as 25–39. [2]
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GD | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 1997 | EDM | 4 | 0 | — | 5 | 13 | 38.5 | 71 | 5.5 | 1 | 1 | 50.5 | 2 | 18 | 9.0 | 0 |
| 1998 | EDM | 18 | 0 | — | 4 | 9 | 44.4 | 100 | 11.1 | 1 | 2 | 82.9 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 1999 | EDM | 13 | 2 | 0–2 | 59 | 112 | 52.7 | 767 | 6.8 | 3 | 5 | 64.8 | 17 | 75 | 4.4 | 1 |
| 2001 | CAL | 15 | 12 | 6–6 | 239 | 386 | 61.9 | 3,407 | 8.8 | 14 | 11 | 90.7 | 58 | 295 | 5.1 | 7 |
| 2002 | CAL | 18 | 16 | 5–11 | 268 | 516 | 51.9 | 4,072 | 7.9 | 26 | 20 | 78.9 | 80 | 503 | 6.3 | 2 |
| 2003 | CAL | 15 | 9 | 3–6 | 147 | 291 | 50.5 | 2,019 | 6.9 | 10 | 13 | 65.9 | 17 | 57 | 3.4 | 0 |
| 2004 | CAL | 14 | 9 | 2–7 | 211 | 372 | 56.7 | 2,389 | 6.4 | 7 | 16 | 64.5 | 20 | 72 | 3.6 | 3 |
| 2005 | SSK | 18 | 8 | 5–3 | 200 | 351 | 57.0 | 2,295 | 6.5 | 12 | 11 | 75.1 | 39 | 160 | 4.1 | 5 |
| 2006 | SSK | 12 | 2 | 1–1 | 19 | 30 | 63.3 | 201 | 6.7 | 0 | 1 | 68.9 | 6 | 22 | 3.7 | 2 |
| 2007 | SSK | 18 | 1 | 1–0 | 78 | 131 | 59.5 | 982 | 7.5 | 5 | 5 | 79.8 | 10 | 47 | 4.7 | 0 |
| 2008 | SSK | 8 | 5 | 3–2 | 67 | 128 | 52.3 | 924 | 7.2 | 7 | 3 | 84.2 | 7 | 54 | 7.7 | 0 |
| Career | 153 | 64 | 26–38 | 1,297 | 2,338 | 55.5 | 17,227 | 7.4 | 86 | 88 | 75.6 | 256 | 1,303 | 5.1 | 20 | |
| YEAR & GAME | TEAM | GP | GS | ATT | COMP | YD | TD | INT | RUSH | YD | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 West Final | EDM | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1998 West Semi-Final | EDM | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 | - | - |
| 1998 West Final | EDM | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 | - | - |
| 1999 West Semi-Final | EDM | 1 | 0 | 14 | 10 | 137 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - |
| 2001 West Semi-Final | CGY | 1 | 1 | 29 | 19 | 236 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2001 West Final | CGY | 1 | 1 | 28 | 21 | 323 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 37 | 0 |
| 2005 *East Semi-Final | SSK | 1 | 1 | 48 | 33 | 306 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 0 |
| 2006 West Semi-Final | SSK | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 | - | - |
| 2006 West Final | SSK | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 | - | - |
| 2007 West Semi-Final | SSK | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 | - | - |
| 2007 West Final | SSK | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 | - | - |
| Totals | 10 | 3 | 119 | 83 | 1,002 | 10 | 4 | 14 | 57 | 0 | |
*team qualified for crossover
| Year | TEAM | GP | GS | ATT | COMP | YD | TD | INT | RUSH | YD | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | CGY | 1 | 1 | 35 | 18 | 309 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 22 | 0 |
| 2007 | SSK | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 | - | - |
| Totals | 2 | 1 | 35 | 18 | 309 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 22 | 0 | |
Crandell was hired by the Roughriders as an offensive assistant on July 7, 2009. [3]
In 2011, he became the Offensive Coordinator of the Edmonton Eskimos. He was demoted to quarterbacks coach midway through the 2012 season and did not return to the Eskimos coaching staff in 2013. [4]
For the 2014 season, Crandell joined the expansion Ottawa Redblacks as their quarterbacks coach. He became the offensive coordinator of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in 2017. [5]