'Amazing' Jeannette product Crawford keeps perspective at Cornell

For a good part of his young life, Brayon Crawford has been on the move. His most recent wanderings were for pleasure.

This past summer, the Jeannette native spent several days driving down the bucolic west coast of Ireland before taking in the city life of Paris. Last year, he traveled to Costa Rica, Switzerland and Italy.

“I recently got into solo traveling,” said Crawford, a junior defensive back at Cornell. “It’s something I’m really passionate about. Anytime I’m off football, off school, I try to kind plan something and get out.”

Those scheduled trips are a far cry from the roaming Crawford did in his youth.

His mother, Valerie Janczewski, died when he was very young, and he wound up moving from Jeannette to Greenville, Pa., to Uniontown and, eventually, back to Jeannette. Before he entered eighth grade, he decided to move to Los Angeles to live with his aunt, his late mother’s sister.

There, he believed, he would have better opportunities academically and with football. And, at last, he would have some stability.

Crawford said he used the travails of his formative years to elevate his adult life.

“It’s just taught me resilience,” he said, “and being able to commit to the process and achieving a better life every day in spite of the negative circumstances.”

Getting an Ivy League education is a big step in that direction. Crawford has a double major in environment sustainability and information science. He hopes to build a career as a consultant who advises corporations on ways to make their businesses more sustainable.

“Committing to an Ivy League school, it’s a four-year decision,” he said, “but, ultimately, it’s a 40-year decision. Football doesn’t last forever, and I’m well aware of that.”

While he still can play football, Crawford plans to make the most of it.

He calls himself a football player at heart and a fierce competitor. During his second stint living in Jeannette, he was inspired by Jayhawks football stars Marcus Barnes and Robert Kennedy, defensive backs who went on to play at Division I schools.

As a seventh grader, he even got to spend some time working out with Barnes and Kennedy, something he said drove him to want to “go to the next level.”

After not seeing any game action as a freshman with the Big Red, Crawford (6-foot-1, 192 pounds) appeared in nine games in 2024, when Cornell went 4-6 overall, 3-4 in the Ivy League. He had 13 total tackles and two passes defended.

His production is expected to increase this season. He will line up in a hybrid outside linebacker/safety role when the Big Red opens its season Sept. 20 with a non-league game at Albany.

“It gives me a great opportunity to use my physicality and stop the run and be a physical presence within the box,” Crawford said. “But also use my quickness and movement ability that traditional linebackers might not have to cover the dynamic tight ends in the Ivy League and the slot receivers.”

Will Blanden coaches the safeties for Cornell and was the assistant who recruited Crawford out of Village Christian School in Los Angeles. He noted the improvements Crawford has made not only in his game but in his leadership in making calls in the secondary.

What has impressed Blanden more, however, is the attitude Crawford brings to the field.

“The fact that this kid has a smile on his face and is doing what he’s doing here at Cornell is beyond me,” said Blanden, in his fifth year at Cornell. “We have a couple of those guys that life hit them hard as young kids, and the fact that he is surviving and thriving at Cornell in the way that he does is amazing to see.

“The kid is such an amazing kid just in how bright his personality is. It’s just a joy to have him around.”

Crawford is eager to show how much he has improved. He said he took advantage of the chance to learn from older players during his first two seasons and is ready to apply those lessons between the lines.

Where football might take him after Cornell remains to be seen. Perhaps this is the final stop on his playing journey, though other journeys, such as the ones he took to Europe, are sure to follow.

And no matter where he goes or where he has been, Crawford said he still considers Jeannette his home.

“All my family is from Jeannette,” he said, “and that’s where I go back home when I’m in Pennsylvania.”