The Grind, presented by Bank of Clarendon: Crestwood's Scriven leads with lockdown defense, mentorship

From the first day Da'shan Scriven stepped on the football field, coaches could tell he had the chance to be a special player.

The two-way star known around Sumter as DaeDae showed an unmatched tenacity and desire to be great. Throughout his career, he developed into one of the state's elite defensive backs. He'll represent the Knights next month in the Shrine Bowl, which pits the top seniors in the Palmetto State against their counterparts from North Carolina. His rise to stardom came from his unwavering work ethic, which will now carry him to the collegiate gridiron next year.

"DaeDae was always this guy," said Ivan Sanders, who has coached the Crestwood senior since his youth football days with the Sumter Spartans. "Even with Pop Warner, DaeDae was the most fierce competitor on the field … If you can put an athlete together, it would be DaeDae."

TWO-WAY SUCCESS FROM THE JUMP

DaeDae's roots on the gridiron are familiar to many Sumter football players. He started out playing Parks and Rec ball before suiting up with Ivan's Sumter Spartans. Ivan has coached some of the area's top football stars through the years, but DaeDae caught his eye very early on.

"He's probably one of the most cerebral kids that I've ever coached. He's smart; he studies the game," Ivan said. "He always was thinking about the game, thinking about the next play. When we started putting together plays, three or four weeks later, he was able to call the offense on the Pop Warner level. He knew all the plays; he didn't need a wristband."

While DaeDae is known for his defensive prowess nowadays, he actually lined up at quarterback throughout youth and middle school football. He played everything from running back to receiver through the years. As an all-around athlete, he still shined on defense, but he was a weapon on offense. His deep knowledge of offense football is one of the reasons he's thriving in the Crestwood secondary today.

"I think what really separates me and makes me a great DB is that I have great ball skills," DaeDae said. "From playing receiver previous years, I feel like it made it come easier. I feel like my instincts were better than most DBs because I was playing receiver. I kind of knew by line markers and positions on the fields what I might get out this look.

"It's just understanding ball placement, ball tracking, understanding where the ball might come, timing, everything on the route. So, it's like, do I have an opportunity to mess up on this step? Do I have an opportunity to cheat down a couple more yards? Do I have an opportunity to jump this play? It just goes based off what I'm looking at in a certain situation."

His experience at quarterback also helps from a leadership perspective. Coaches always say they want a quarterback of the defense, a player who can get their teammates in the right spot and read the field. Every Friday night, that's what you'll see with DaeDae, directing traffic for a young Crestwood defense.

"He always commanded that defensive side of the ball, even with 7-on-7. DaeDae is basically the quarterback of the defense over there, too," said Ivan, who also coaches DaeDae with his 803 United 7-on-7 program. "If we called for the kids to warm up, DaeDae could warm them up. If we called for kids who didn't quite understand the offense or the defense, you let DaeDae show them. He's a born leader. He was a leader when he was younger, and he still is to this day."

QUICK IMPACT ON VARSITY

When DaeDae got to Crestwood, he found a program that was on the brink of breaking through. As a sophomore, he stepped into the starting lineup for a team that had state championship aspirations. They beat Camden and won the region title for the first time since 2013. He was thrust into the role of starting safety pretty quickly because the CHS coaches saw the work he put in each day throughout the offseason. He had the added pressure of playing in a secondary with an elite corner in Khalil Moody, whom most opposing teams were afraid to throw at. If teams wouldn't target Moody's side of the field, there was a good chance they'd want to throw at the sophomore DB.

"He kept standing out in practice, making plays," head coach Roosevelt Nelson said. "A lot of teams didn't want to challenge Khalil Moody, and he kept showing up, whether it was PBUs or great physical tackles. That gave us the confidence as a staff to increase his responsibilities."

DaeDae loved the challenge of being the player that opposing coaches wanted to test on Friday nights.

"I took it upon myself to understand that Moody is a great athlete. I understand he's a great DB, and if teams don't want to go at him, I'm going to punish them for wanting to try us in the secondary," he said. "Any Friday I stepped on the field and the offensive coordinator on the other side of the ball felt like I was the weakness on the team or I'm young, so let's target him, I was going to make him pay for it."

Ivan saw that same mindset in DaeDae from an early age.

"If you challenge DaeDae or if we said, 'Ya'll can't stop No. 10 from getting 10 yards every snap,' that would be something where we had to turn it off because DaeDae would come down so hard and keep coming," Ivan said. "He always faced a challenge. Not just talking it, but with his actions."

His actions as a sophomore quickly grabbed the attention of football coaches across South Carolina. Both DaeDae and Khalil were all-state selections that fall. DaeDae finished the year with 57 tackles, four tackles for a loss, five pass breakups, a pick and three forced fumbles. That success only drove him to improve as a junior, when he started to see more time at cornerback to replace Khalil, who left to play at Mercer.

"After I had the all-state season, once I started going to football camps and competing against other guys in the country, I felt like I'm the same type of athlete they are. I feel like we had the same skills or mine were better," DaeDae said. "I felt like if I really just lock in on my technique and my mechanics, I can really take this thing to another level."

So DaeDae went to work. He developed into an extremely versatile athlete who can play anywhere in the Crestwood secondary. He credits having a great veteran lineup to learn from as a sophomore to that development.

"My 10th-grade year, I was very inexperienced when it came to what it takes to win a game and what it takes to actually grind and put in the work every single day," he said. "So, just me watching those guys come in the practice every day, watching the routine, watching them get working after practice, watching them stay hours just to watch film, I feel like I just became a sponge. I feel like everything they put into it, why won't I try to copy that and put in 10 times more?"

His versatility also sets an example for the rest of the team. DaeDae is willing to do whatever he can for his team to be successful, and that mindset makes everyone around him better.

"Attitudes like that are infectious, and it has an effect on the team, a positive effect," Ivan said. "That's the embodiment of DaeDae, doing whatever it takes for the whole. We talk about servant leaders, and that's what DaeDae is; he's a ball player's ball player."

DaeDae put together an even better year as a junior. As the Knights climbed from SCHSL 3A to 4A, he led his new classification with five interceptions. He added 45 tackles, two tackles for a loss, two sacks, 10 pass breakups, two fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and a defensive touchdown. Despite a long list of impressive statistics, he was left off the all-state team as a young Crestwood squad finished the year 5-6 after losing a nailbiter to Hilton Head Island in the first round of the playoffs. That didn't sit well with DaeDae.

"I'm not going to lie; it put some fire under me because I felt like I played better as from a secondary standpoint with having less targets my 11th-grade year. I also made better stats in the air when it came to interceptions and PBUs," he said.

Ivan saw the exact kind of response he expected out of DaeDae. While the senior is exceedingly humble, he doesn't take kindly to being slighted.

"If he didn't get what he thought he deserved, he's going to be vocal about it, and he's going to lay it out for you," Ivan said. "That always turned into motivation for DaeDae. If he felt slighted, he's going to make sure there's no question who is the best player on the field."

TIME TO SHRINE

So DaeDae went back to the lab this offseason and got even better. He finished his senior season with six interceptions, 10 pass breakups, a tackle for a loss and 36 total tackles on a defense that was littered with underclassmen.

"There's a lot of craft and a lot of work that goes into it. You can't just sit around and expect to be great at a position when you don't put the work in for it," DaeDae said of the grind to be successful. "It also goes off my teammates, too. When I'm on the defensive side of the ball, I want to guard the best receiver in practice. When I'm at receiver, I want the second-best DB on the team to come and guard me. I don't run away from competition; I feel like iron sharpens iron. When it comes to tendencies, you have to be a very smart football player, have a high football IQ."

As simple as it may sound, Roosevelt said one of the reasons for DaeDae's success is simply sitting down and watching football. In a world of short attention spans, DaeDae is able to see a more complete picture.

"He actually watches football. A lot of kids today don't watch football. They play the game, they train, but he actually watches football and understands the bigger picture of the game," Roosevelt said. "A lot of kids now just do YouTube and highlights, but if you actually watch the game from start to finish, that helps his football IQ tremendously."

DaeDae earned the chance to play in the Shrine Bowl based on the incredible career he's had with the Knights. After missing out on all-state honors as a junior, he thought the state's top all-star game wasn't going to be in the cards.

"Getting named to the Shrine Bowl, it was a shocker, to be honest. I didn't really think I was gonna make the Shrine Bowl list because I feel like the voting goes with a lot of politics and stuff like that, so I'm thinking all the bigger names in the state than me were going to get selected," DaeDae said. "They're watching, comparing film to film, and they saw all the work I put into it every day coming out here and grinding, putting in the work. I felt like that paid off, so (I'm) glad to see that, actually being noticed by people."

When DaeDae represents the Knights at the Shrine Bowl on Dec. 20, he'll have some company, as Roosevelt will be on the South Carolina coaching staff.

"I'm very proud of him," Roosevelt said. "All the work he's put in for four years is going to pay off by being in the biggest high school all-star game this state has to offer. The top 44 players in the state are playing in that game, so I'm proud of him and the work he put in. He's a guy where his work ethic and his stats allow him to be in this game."

Unfortunately, DaeDae and the Knights saw their season come to an end on Friday, falling to Hartsville in the first round of the SCHSL 4A playoffs. While that will be his final game at Crestwood, Roosevelt feels that his impact on the program will carry forward into next year.

"It's a full-circle moment. He's done from being a guy who was kind of a sponge soaking up everything guys from the past told him, and now he's putting that back out to the team now," Roosevelt said. "He's being more vocal about taking some young guys under his wing, talking to them about in-game adjustments. Really just being that extra coach on the field for us.

"His words and leadership are going to go a long way. He's not going to be on the field physically playing with us next year, but his heart and his determination and what he's said to these kids throughout the course of his three years here is going to hold true moving on into the future of the program."

DAEDAE'S VILLAGE

It's often said that it takes a village to raise a child, and that's certainly the case with DaeDae. He credits so many people with helping him blossom into the excellent student-athlete he's become. That starts with his parents, Reggie and Teresa Dozier, and his late grandmother, Maggie Skipper.

"My family," DaeDae said of who he plays for on Friday nights. "A lot of what I do is for my grandma. She sadly passed away, she never watched me play a football game, but she always was the type of person to let me know that my dreams were always going to come true. My mother and father are very supportive of my dreams, have been with me ever since the beginning, always believed in me.

"My sisters are my biggest cheerleaders. They always keep me going, always keep me motivated when I'm down. My brothers, just us playing in the backyard, they made me the person I really am today. Even if they aren't as good as me at football, all of those nights, being out there all day playing football, just having that with them. A lot of what I see in my teammates, I see in my brothers."

Then there's the long list of coaches who helped shape DaeDae on and off the field.

"My first coach ever was Domiko Peeples; he was my first coach with Parks and Rec. He really instilled in me that I could really be great and I could really take this football thing to another level past being in the neighborhood," DaeDae said. "My Pop Warner coach, Coach Ivan, is that person who understood that I could be more than just a football player. He really taught me how to be a young man.

"My high school coaches really just built me to be the person I've been the last four years. They really helped me become a better man, become a better football player, become a better student, become better all in general. They really poured into me what y'all don't see on the field when it comes to life."

Roosevelt credits DaeDae for taking lessons from all of those people in his life and using that knowledge to forge his own path.

"He's an individual who blazed his own path. He cares about his family tremendously, but he also has his own goals he's set for himself, and he's not going to let anyone or anything deter him from that," the CHS head coach said. "That's what I like about him. Sometimes people will put goals to the side and wait for people to have that same vision, but Da'shan blazes his own path, and it's the right thing for him to do."

Thanks to that support system, DaeDae will continue his football career at the next level, though he's waiting until the Shrine Bowl to formally announce his destination. Wherever he plays, DaeDae has a community that can't wait to watch him thrive.

"When we look at today's landscape with the transfer portal and looking at measurables, but one thing you can't measure is the muscle inside of his chest," Ivan said. "DaeDae is the most fierce competitor on the field, and he's one that thinks about the game. You might be taller than DaeDae, you might be stronger than DaeDae, but you will not outthink him on that football field.

"He is one of the most cerebral kids I've ever coached, and I coached quite a few kids who went to Power 4 schools. I look at DaeDae and put him right up there with DJ (Davin Jackson), Miles Capers, as far as making an impact the way I truly feel he will if given a shot."

Roosevelt agrees.

"Wherever he decides to play college football, they're going to get a steal," he said. "They're going to get an individual who is going to come in and have a positive effect on their program. He's a Day 1 guy off the bus playing."