The No. 62 player on our list was poised to soar a lot higher when legal troubles derailed his college career.
In 2013, Croft finished 10th in the conference in rushing with 685 yards (and 12 touchdown runs) and second in passing with 1,879 yards and 16 TDs versus just four interceptions. With Croft behind center, the Titans made it to the IHSA 6A semifinals.
In 2014, Boylan struggled, seeing its 75-game NIC-10 winning streak come to an end as the Titans finished 5-5. It wasn't Croft's fault. He was sixth in the conference in rushing with 791 yards and second again in passing with 2,011 yards.
Over those two seasons, Croft rushed for 1,476 yards and thew for 3,890. He accounted for 57 touchdowns either on the ground or through the air.
Croft became one of the rare NIC-10 quarterbacks to graduate to the Big Ten, signing with the University of Minnesota. He played sparingly in 2015 and then redshirted in 2016. In 2017, though, Croft then became the first former NIC-10 quarterback to start a Big 10 game in 24 years.
He appeared ready for stardom when he rushed for 183 yards against Nebraska, winning co-Big Ten Player of the Week. But he struggled in his other five starts and finished the season with 674 yards passing with just a 41.8 completion percentage.
He left Minnesota after the season, saying he was falsely accused of damaging a door, and transferred to Tennessee State, an FCS school. Croft started the first four games for the Tigers in 2018, passing for 888 yards and rushing for another 146 before suffering a season-ending injury. That would be it for his college career. Croft was charged with counts of rape and sexual assault in both Rockford and Tennessee and was suspended indefinitely.
Croft eventually was found not guilty of the charges in Winnebago County. There are no links to the results of the cases in Tennessee, but they must have been resolved in Croft's favor because he is back playing football. He was the starting quarterback this season for the Tuscon Sugar Skulls in the Indoor Football League. The IFL is the largest and - since the demise of the Arena Football League - longest running indoor football league.
Croft played in 11 games, completing 61 percent of his passes for 1,381 yards and 24 TDs. He also led the team in rushing with 446 yards with another 10 TDs.
| No. 62 - Demry Croft, Boylan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Level | School | Accomplishments | Points |
| 2013 | High School | Boylan | First Team All-Conference | 2 |
| League Leader | 1 | |||
| Playoff Team | 1 | |||
| Conference Champion | 1 | |||
| Final Four | 1 | |||
| 2014 | High School | Boylan | First Team All-Conference | 2 |
| Playoff Team | 1 | |||
| 2015 | College | Minnesota | Letter Winner on Power 5 Team | 4 |
| Bowl Game | 1 | |||
| 2017 | College | Minnesota | Letter Winner on Power 5 Team | 4 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| 2018 | College | Tennessee State | Letter Winner on NCAA Div. 1 | 3 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| 2021 | Pro | Tuscon Sugar Skulls | Starter in Indoor Football League | 1 |
| Total | 24 | |||
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