Aces fire did more than just produce fire, it also burned people so I guess it's awakened?
Is that really what you took away from that or were you trying to be facetious? If it's the latter it didn't work well. burns are an actual side effect of fire. Absorbing all water in a substance through contact is not an actual side effect of sand.
The definition of logia was producing an element, nothing beyond that. No other logia gets residual elemental effects even admirals, Aokiji can't just lower temperatures in objects around him because he can create ice, Akainu can't just melt things without creating said lava from his fruit, yet Croc can drain moisture without producing the sand of his DF, IF he was shown producing sand prior to draining I'd say you had a strong point but that's not what was shown to happen.
Also we know Croc knows about DF awakenings, so taking that what do you think he was implying when he said honed my powers to perfection? If he's honed his DF to perfection then what is that besides awakening?