West Virginia running back Justin Crawford rushed for 331 yards in a loss to Oklahoma in November. He led the Big 12 in yards per attempt in his first season out of junior college. The league's offensive newcomer of the year, he announced in January that he would return as a senior.

None of it, though, readied Crawford for his planned future quite like the four-hour shifts that ended at 7 a.m. as a UPS package handler or the midnight-to-2 a.m. workouts at Planet Fitness in the offseason before his second year at Northwest Mississippi Community College.

You see, the hard times, with no one cheering, toughened his skin. Crawford, the 22-year-old married father of two and sometimes surrogate dad to four younger siblings whose father died in 2009, leans more on his resolve to thrive amid struggle than his milestones achieved in moving toward his "ultimate goal" of playing in the NFL.

The unrivaled leader of the Mountaineers' loaded offensive backfield, Crawford provides key experience for a Big 12 contender in its bid to improve on a 10-win, third-place league finish.

He learned his work ethic from a group of mentors and friends twice his age. Away from football, Crawford said, he rarely spends time with young people -- other than his wife, Chakeya, of course, sons Jay'Dense, 2, and 10-month-old Justin Jr.

"When everybody else is sitting at home, relaxing, you can be getting ahead," Crawford told ESPN.com on Tuesday in his first session of interviews since arriving at West Virginia last summer. "I want to do things or push myself in a certain way, so I can approach somebody else when they're not doing something right."

A graduate of Hardaway High School in Columbus, Georgia, Crawford rushed for 1,184 yards in 2016. With a family to support and after he worked briefly at Taco Bell in Morgantown before last season, Crawford surprised some observers with his decision to play a second season in the Big 12.

In fact, he said, "there was no decision." He was long determined to earn a degree. His family enjoys life in West Virginia, despite Crawford's commitments to academics and athletics that eat 90 percent of his time.

He said he feels additional responsibility to his three younger sisters and one brother who live in Georgia.

"It gets tough at times," he said. "You'll have everybody calling you for your opinion or advice."

The future, no matter its potential upgrades in lifestyle, will continue to present challenges, especially with time management. Of that, Crawford is entirely aware.

So for now, he's content to leave his mark on the Mountaineers, for whom talented rising sophomore running backs Kennedy McKoy and Martell Pettaway also return.

"It appears to me that he's trying to learn at every opportunity he has to learn," said West Virginia running backs coach Tony Dews, hired in February from Arizona. "When we go out on the practice field, he does a good job of setting the tone and being a leader.

"The other kids, obviously, respect him a great deal and follow his lead."

From the start this spring, Dews said he saw in Crawford a running back with good ball skills, vision and burst. The coach asked him to improve his pass protection.

"He's embracing it," Dews said. "He wants to do it. And that's a big thing. He's not a guy who thinks he has all the answers."

Crawford drew notice from his coaches last summer, even before preseason camp, for his brash leadership methods. Soon, they saw that he created no problems among teammates, who were instead drawn to him.

The style comes naturally to Crawford. Much like when lifted weights overnight in Mississippi, then lapped others in the weight room once structured workouts began, Crawford said if he invests the time at West Virginia, he'll reap benefits on the field.

Away from the field, he's pushing constantly to stay ahead of the curve. His motivation to succeed starts every day at home.

"I commend him on that part of it," Dews said, "because there's a lot of guys his age -- and a lot of men even older -- that are out there and may not be as responsible as he is right now."