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AFL Jacksonville Sharks

Crawford, Morales Selected in Expansion Draft

December 20, 2013 - Arena Football League (AFL)
Jacksonville Sharks News Release


JACKSONVILLE - The 2013 South Division Champion Jacksonville Sharks announced that two members of the team's roster have been selected in Friday's Arena Football League Expansion Draft. Defensive lineman Mark Crawford was selected by the Los Angeles KISS, while offensive lineman Isaac Morales was selected by the Portland Thunder.

The Expansion Draft served as a means to provide veteran players to the League's two newest franchises. The Sharks and the other 11 returning franchises were able to protect a number of players from the expansion draft. Once a player was selected from a team, that team had an opportunity to protect another player from selection. If a team had two players selected, that team had the option to withdraw all its remaining players from the draft pool. After Crawford's selection, the Sharks elected to protect fullback R.J. Bibbs. Following the selection of Morales by the Thunder, Jacksonville protected the remainder of the team's roster.

The 24-year-old Crawford (6'1", 325) came to the Sharks midway through the 2013 season, his first in the AFL. He appeared in two regular-season contests (one start), totaling 3.5 tackles in the process. Crawford originally began the campaign with the Arizona Rattlers, seeing action in two games with that team. The native of Indianapolis, Indiana played collegiately at Kentucky.

A mainstay along the Sharks' offensive line, the 29-year-old Morales (6'6", 330) started 17 games for the Sharks in 2013. One of four players to suit up for Jacksonville in each of the franchise's four seasons, Morales started a total of 57 regular-season games during his tenure with the Sharks. A key figure in Jacksonville's ArenaBowl XXVI title in 2011, Morales anchored an offensive line that allowed just 12 sacks over the course of that entire season. In addition to his primary blocking duties, the University of Wyoming product caught three touchdown passes in a Shark uniform.

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