Jon Shalala swung open the double doors at the front of Arkansas State's auditorium, interrupting head coach Butch Jones' signing day press conference in December.
Jones asked if it was good news, feigning surprise when Shalala, his linebackers coach, confirmed it indeed was. ASU knew for several hours it had secured a commitment from Memphis native Keyron Crawford, a three-star defensive end out of Briarcrest Christian School.
But that moment -- as Jones read the final name in his early 2022 class to the assembled media, mere minutes after Crawford had publicly chosen the Red Wolves over Iowa and Nebraska -- affirmed the plan ASU's staff had established a year prior was already bearing big-time fruit.