Elijah Cromwell spent his summer break breaking ankles. Not just any ankles, either. We’re talking NFL ankles. Millionaire stinking ankles.
“Man, he’s competitive,” Broncos running back Jaleel McLaughlin told me after practice last week when I asked about Cromwell, the Cherry Creek star and his new pal. “Real competitive. He wants to be first in everything.”
You’ve got to get up pretty early in the morning to beat McLaughlin, a grinder who’s already been lifting at Broncos Park powered by CommonSpirit for an hour or two by the time footballholic Sean Payton shows up for work.
But darned if Cromwell, the Bruins tailback who’s averaged 7.7 yards per carry while winning state titles as a freshman and sophomore, didn’t try like heck.
spent about a half-dozen weeks of May and June running with Broncos speedsters McLaughlin and Ja’Quan McMillian over
Pivotal owner/founder played matchmaker, initially. He’s worked with Cromwell, off and on, since the Bruins star’s freshman year. Mobility and recovery stuff, mostly. Speed training, Plyometrics. He recently gave Elijah a bit of pipe and had him run with it between his shoulder blades, arms and elbows locked high. The aim: To practice moving and cutting without using said arms and to help the location of the hips.
“(It helps to) get your knees up and stuff like that,” Cromwell explained. “Just being able to move, to move without your arms, because (then) you’re able to use your arms way faster.”
Long story short, Cromwell would come into Pivotal on Friday mornings, well before school. Pivotal also happens to be where McLaughlin and McMillian smooth out the rough stuff. Oh, and try to destroy the other dude. With love, of course.
“Every drill that we do is competitive between J-Mac (McMillian) and me,” McLaughlin explained. “We have a brutal competition in the offseason.”
How brutal? Each drill at Pivotal was assigned points. 10-yard sprints. 5-yard sprints. 10-yard back sprints. Needless to say, it got loud.
And Elijah?
Elijah wanted in.
“I want to work out with you guys,” the Creek junior said.
“Hey, this dude wants to get up at 6 a.m. and work out with y’all in the morning,” Nolan told the pair.
“Yeah, bring him, bring him in,” McLaughlin said.
The rest is history. Between reps, , would pick the brain of McLaughlin, college football’s all-time leading rusher. They’d talk play designs. Setting up blocks. How McLaughlin times his cuts. What he looks for out of the linebackers pre-snap.
“And then (Cromwell) started to jump in,” McLaughlin recalled. “Quick cuts. Square cuts. All that stuff at 5 yards. And his times were not that far off from us. And we were like, ‘OK, this kid is legit, yeah.'”
Power 4 schools are well ahead of you, dude. ESPN’s most recent “SportsCenter Next 300” rankings tapped Elijah as the Colorado’s top prospect for the state for the class of 2028; 247Sports.com and On3.com slotted him at No. 2 behind Valor QB Titus Huard.
“Those (NFL) guys are very picky about who they work out with,” Nolan said.
And they took to Elijah almost instantly.
“Did you know he had Georgia and Michigan offers?” I asked McLaughlin.
“I knew (he had) something,” McLaughlin chuckled. He recalled having this exchange with Nolan a few months back:
McLaughlin: “That dude is quick. He’s twitchy. Like, what grade is he in?'”
Nolan: “He’s a junior. He’s the No. 1 recruit in the state. Georgia just came down to watch him, all these (other) places.”
McLaughlin: “Oh, dang. That’s crazy.”
You want to know what’s crazier? Like a certain coach in Boulder, Cromwell ain’t hard to find. T
“I might need to take that off soon,” Cromwell cracked.
“You just might,” I said.
As of last Thursday, per 247Sports, Eiljah had at least 22 FBS offers on the table, ranging from blue bloods (Michigan, Georgia, Notre Dame, Miami, Florida, Oregon, Washington) to provincial faves (CU, CSU, New Mexico, Kansas, Kansas State).
“I could tell pretty quickly that he was (that good) just by how precise and quick (he was),” McLaughlin noted. “I could tell the traits he’s got. He’s going to be special.”
He kind of already is. His father, Carlos, says they’ve got enough recruiting letters right now from colleges to fill up four shoeboxes. K-State shot him another note just last week.
“That’s (my) little bro,” McLaughlin said. “He’s a great dude.”
And the dudes still talk and text. They’ve even locked thumbs in the occasional “NBA 2K” battle.
“Does he remind you of … you?” I asked McLaughlin.
A grin.
“He’s probably a little bit more advanced than I was in the 11th grade,” McLaughlin replied. “He’s way more advanced, actually. He’s not a little guy, either. He’s bigger. He’s a little taller. He can do whatever he wants to do, I would definitely say that. But his work ethic …”
“Advanced?”
“Definitely just like mine,” McLaughlin said. “But play style and stuff, I can already tell he’s going to be really good.”
Time flies. Just not nearly as fast as Elijah does now.
“I feel great about the season coming up. I feel way better,” Cromwell said. “I feel great all-around. So I’m just excited to prove myself right.”
Four shoeboxes full of letters. Georgia, Michigan, Miami and Notre Dame on his radar. McLaughlin on his DMs.
“What more do you have to prove?” I wondered.
“1,500 yard season,” Cromwell replied.
“Rushing and receiving?”
“Rushing,” Cromwell said. Then his voice got quiet. “Just rushing.”
You want to doubt him? You want to catch him? The line forms Aug. 20 at Chatfield. Just don’t be shocked if he breaks your heart.
