*** 2021 & 2020-21 Team Co-Captain ***

Career: Criner tallied nine interceptions, 273 tackles (eight for loss), 20 passes broken up, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries in his 54-game career (32 as a starter). His number of games played ties for the third-most in school history. Criner is tied for 11th in interceptions and pass break ups, and he places 15th on the all-time tackles leaderboard. He had five performances in his career with at least 10 tackles. Criner continued the legacy of wearing the No. 4 jersey for the Eagle Football team. Since the 2008 season when senior Jason Belford had the number, the coaching staff has selected a leader on defense to wear the jersey. It symbolizes the defensive player who most embodies the characteristics of defense at Eastern -- grit, toughness, effort, leadership and academic success.

2021: Criner earned All-Big Sky Conference third team honors after starting in all 13 games for the Eagles. He racked up 83 tackles (two for loss), two interceptions, nine passes broken up, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, a quarterback hurry, and half of a sack. Against Southern Utah on 9/25/21, Criner racked up seven tackles and forced a fumble that was recovered by teammate Brock Harrison in Thunderbird territory. The following week (10/2/21) against Montana, he had nine tackles and a quarterback hurry. He made his eighth career interception (and first touchdown) against Northern Colorado on 10/9/21, returning it 30 yards for a score that put EWU up 20-0 in the first quarter. Criner had a season-high of 12 tackles against Weber State on 10/23/21 and also added a fumble recovery, pass break up, and half of a sack. His second interception of the season came against Montana State on 11/6/21. He added nine tackles in that game. He recovered another fumble on 11/13/21 at UC Davis. Criner was a team co-captain for the second-straight season.

2021 Preseason: He is a team co-captain for the second-straight season.

2020-21: After missing EWU’s first four games of the spring season, Criner made his season debut against UC Davis (4/3/21). He had three tackles in that 32-22 victory, including a career-high 1 1/2 for losses. He closed the year with three stops and a pass broken up versus North Dakota State (4/24/21) in the FCS Playoffs. Selected as a senior team co-captain as voted upon by his teammates, joining quarterback Eric Barriere, running back Tamarick Pierce, linebacker Jack Sendelbach, offensive tackle Tristen Taylor and linebacker Ty Graham.

2019: Criner started all 12 Eastern games and was third on the team with 85 tackles on the season. He also had three passes broken up and four interceptions. His average of 7.1 tackles per game ranked 14th in the Big Sky and his average of 0.33 interceptions tied for second. He had his second two-interception game of his career and had eight tackles in EWU’s 48-5 victory over Idaho State (11/9/19) to earn College Sports Madness Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors. Playing in front of a crowd of 14 family and friends which included his well-known father and grandfather, he also broke-up a pass and one of his tackles was for a loss of two yards. It was the first time in 37 games that EWU hasn’t allowed a touchdown since beating Richmond 38-0 in the FCS Playoffs in 2016. It had been 40 Big Sky Conference games since the Eagles held a league opponent out of the end zone, dating back to a 54-3 win over North Dakota in 2014. Eastern had a 3-0 advantage in turnovers forced, and held ISU to 4-of-17 on third down and 0-of-4 on fourth. Earlier in the season, Criner helped Eastern to a dominating 6-0 advantage in turnovers forced with another pair of interceptions and seven tackles in EWU’s 35-20 victory over North Dakota (9/28/19). He was rewarded by earning honorable mention for STATS National Defensive Player of the Week honors. His first interception came in the first quarter and helped lead to a short Eastern drive and 14-0 lead. His second pick came with 11:46 to play and Eastern nursing a 28-20 lead. It was the first of four-straight empty possessions for the Fighting Hawks to close out the game. He also had a pair of tackles in the decisive fourth quarter as EWU allowed a season-low 20 points (at the time) and 369 total yards. Eastern scored 21 of its 35 points as a result of the turnovers the Eagles forced. He had a career-high 16 tackles at Montana (10/26/19) and also had 12 against Sacramento State (10/5/19). He was the team’s defensive player of the week against Lindenwood (9/7/19) as well as versus North Dakota and Idaho State. Eastern was a perfect 5-0 at home in 2019, and Criner had 31 tackles and a pair of interceptions in those five games.

2018: Was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team. He closed the year with the fourth-most tackles on the team with 76 despite starting just four of the 15 games he played. He made his starting debut as an Eagle when EWU played Nicholls (12/1/18) in the FCS Playoffs. He finished with seven tackles and forced a fumble. He also started the next three games as well, including the NCAA Division I Championship game versus North Dakota State (1/5/19). He had one of two interceptions Eastern had on the day against Bison All-America quarterback Easton Stick, who had only five interceptions in his first 14 games of the season. Criner also started against Maine (12/15/18) in the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs when EWU had nine new starters in the lineup for that game than what they had in their second game of the season versus Northern Arizona (9/8/18). He had what was then a career-high 12 tackles in the quarterfinals versus UC Davis (12/8/18), eclipsing his previous high of 11 versus Weber State (10/13/18). Besides his two performances in double figures, he had three with seven – NDSU, Nicholls and Southern Utah (10/6/18). Criner had 36 tackles, five passes broken up and an interception during EWU’s seven-game winning streak from Oct. 27 to Dec. 15. He also caught a pass for 30 yards against Portland State (11/16/18) and had a 21-yard punt return versus Northern Colorado (11/3/18). He had 14 tackles with two interceptions in three spring scrimmages, including a pair of tackles in EWU’s Red-White Game. He helped lead the White to a 17-0 shutout of the Red, whose deepest penetrations of the game were the White 21 and 23 yard lines in the fourth quarter.

2017: Was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team. Played in all 11 games as a backup safety. Finished his debut season with 22 tackles, including a season-high five in EWU’s final game of the season against Portland State (11/18/17) when he also broke-up a pass. He had three of his tackles against Montana (9/23/17) to earn EWU’s special teams player of the week honor. He also returned four kickoffs for a 19.0 average and a long of 34.

2016: Redshirted. Following the end of the season, he was selected as the EWU co-Scout Team Player of the year for defense along with former teammate Keith Moore. Was selected as the team’s defensive scout team player of the week twice.

HS: Graduated from Rocky Mountain HS in 2016. In his one and only season at Rocky Mountain, he earned first-team 5A All-State honors as a defensive back. He was also a first-team choice on the USA Today All-USA Idaho football team. He had 96 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, three interceptions and two sacks. He finished with 831 all-purpose yards and seven touchdowns, with a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 95-yard kick return for a score. He helped lead Rocky Mountain to the State 5A title with a 41-22 championship game victory over Mountain View. The Grizzlies finished 11-1, and 5-0 in league play to win the 5A Southern Idaho - A championship. As a junior, he played for Saline High School in Michigan, earning All-State accolades and first-team all-conference honors. Saline finished 13-2 and won the Southeastern League Red Division title (5-0). The Hornets advanced to the championship game in Michigan’s largest classification (Division 1), losing to defending champion Clarkston 33-25. Criner had an interception in the title game. In his sophomore season at Saline, the Hornets were 9-2 and won the league title with a 4-1 record, and also advanced to the state playoffs. Criner also competed in basketball and track and field in high school.

Personal: Majoring in communication studies and leadership at Eastern. Born 10/15/97 in Portland, Ore. His father, Mark, is a former player at Boise State (1990 graduate) and most recently an assistant coach with the Seattle Dragons of the XFL, which suspended operations and filed for bankruptcy due to the Covid-19 virus. The long-time college coach previously had tenures at Idaho, Portland State, Utah State, Minnesota, Eastern Michigan, Cincinnati, Middle Tennessee State, Lamar, and Colorado State Pueblo, as well as with the Las Vegas Outlaws in a previous stint in the XFL. Calin is the grandson of former Boise State University head football coach Jim Criner (1976-82), who guided the Broncos to the 1980 NCAA Championship Subdivision (then I-AA) title. He was 59-21-1 overall and 34-12 in the Big Sky at BSU, and was later head coach at Iowa State (1983-86). Calin lived with Rocky Mountain head coach Scott Criner, who is Mark’s cousin. Calin also has twin siblings, Jackson and Brooklyn. Nickname is “Cal.” Name is pronounced “cal-uhn” “cry-nur.”
 

Year	GP	TT	Hi	S	TL-Yds	FF-FR	PBU	I-Yds
2017	11	22	5	0	0-0	1-0	1	0-0
2018	15	76	12	0	2-2	1-1	6	3-35
2019	12	85	16	0	2-4	0-0	3	4-0
2020-21	3	7	3	0	2-2	0-0	1	0-0
2021	13	83	12	0.5	2-5	1-2	9	2-30
Totals	54	273	16	0.5	8-13	3-3	20	9-65

Kickoff Returns: 2017/4-76-19.0 (long of 34); 2018/3-44-14.7 (long of 17); Totals/7-120-17.1 (long of 34).

Punt Returns: 2018/7-45-6.4 (long of 21); 2019/11-42-3.8 (long of 9); Totals/18-87-4.8 (long of 21).

CALIN CRINER Top Tackling Performances (5 with 10+)
16 tackles – Montana – 10/26/19
12 tackles – Weber State – 10/23/21
12 tackles – Sacramento State – 10/5/19
12 tackles – UC Davis – 12/8/18
11 tackles – Weber State – 10/13/18

Criner continues the legacy of wearing the No. 4 jersey for the Eagle Football team, a tribute that has existed for more than 10 years. Since the 2008 season when senior Jason Belford had the number, the coaching staff has selected a leader on defense to wear the jersey. It symbolizes the defensive player who most embodies the characteristics of defense at Eastern -- grit, toughness, effort, leadership and academic success. A year ago, senior Dylan Ledbetter wore the No. 4 jersey and went on to win honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference honors. Although the honor isn’t necessarily given to the most talented defensive player on the team, Eastern has had 13 of a possible 15 players in that number earn All-Big Sky honors since Eastern joined the league in 1987. Below is the list of players who have worn that number since EWU became a member of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in 1984 (Big Sky in 1987).