Former Jets CB Antonio Cromartie declares lofty goal for next 5 years

Antonio Cromartie has a clear vision

Former New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie took to Twitter on Thursday afternoon to share his personal goal for the next five years: to become the head coach of a major Division I college football program in one of the Power-5 conferences (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Pac 12, Big 12).

I will be a HC in the next 5 years at a major P5 program.

— COACH ANTONIO CROMARTIE (@CRO31) January 20, 2022

Cromartie entered the college football coaching world in 2021 as he became a graduate assistant at Texas A&M under head coach Jimbo Fisher. The Aggies went 8-4 and finished with the third-best scoring defense in the country, allowing only 15.9 points per game.

At Texas A&M, Cromartie coached five defensive players who are ranked as top-200 prospects in the 2022 NFL draft by NFL Mock Draft Database:

• DL DeMarvin Leal (18th)
• DL Jayden Peevy (156th)
• EDGE Michael Clemons (165th)
• LB Aaron Hansford (172nd)
• EDGE Tyree Johnson (194th)

While the Aggies’ four-loss season in 2021 was a disappointing one after entering the season as the nation’s No. 6 squad in the AP poll, those struggles were no fault of the defense that Cromartie worked with. Here are some of Texas A&M’s defensive ranks out of 130 FBS teams in 2021:

• Points per game allowed: 15.9 (3rd)
• Third down conversion rate allowed: 32.8% (14th)
• Passing yards per game allowed: 192.7 (17th)
• Yards per pass attempt allowed: 5.8 (4th)

Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator was Mike Elko, who moved on to become the head coach at Duke. Former Ole Miss defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin was hired as his replacement.

A product of Florida State, Cromartie played five seasons with the Jets over two separate stints, first playing with the team from 2010-13 before rejoining the club in 2015. Cromartie ranks second on the franchise’s all-time list in passes defended with 63, trailing only Darrelle Revis’ 112 (the stat has only been tracked since 1999).

Cromartie spent time as a coaching intern with the Jets in the 2018 season, working under then-head coach Todd Bowles.