Nate Craig-Myers

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Auburn receiver Nate Craig-Myers' goal this spring after 'frustrating' freshman season

Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

Nate Craig-Myers' freshman year on the Plains wasn't what he expected it to be, but he's hoping Year 2 will make up for it.

The 6-foot-2, 208-pound receiver arrived at Auburn last summer with plenty of expectations after signing with the Tigers as a four-star prospect and the No. 6 wide receiver in the nation. He was the gem of a vastly talented corps of receivers who signed with the Tigers in 2016 -- but that did not equate to the type of success Craig-Myers envisioned for himself as a freshman.

"Sometimes you get lost," Craig-Myers said. "It was just being a freshman. I feel like this year is better."

Craig-Myers finished his freshman year with just four receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown. He was 10^th on the team in receiving, in both yards and receptions, and he appeared in just 10 games with one start (against Ole Miss) while battling an array of undisclosed minor injuries throughout the year.

"It was very frustrating feeling good one minute and then you get nicked and bruised," Craig-Myers said. "Then you feel like you're not your normal self. It was frustrating definitely."

Craig-Myers hopes to leave those frustrations behind him as he enters his sophomore season at Auburn. Two weeks into spring practice, the Dade City, Fla., native said he feels "100 percent, with no nicks and bruises" as he competes for a starting job at wide receiver in offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey's offense.

 

Who will Auburn turn to for leadership at wide receiver in 2017?

Auburn loses its leading receiver and a team captain from 2016 but has a youthful core of receivers it expects to step up and lead the offense in 2017.

 

Craig-Myers has worked with the first-team offense at split-end through the first five practices, making the most of his opportunity at that position with Kyle Davis and Darius Slayton out of the picture early this spring. Davis, who is expected to play split-end or the big slot receiver, has been handling "personal business" and is expected to return this week, while Slayton, the team's leading returning receiver, has been sidelined while recovering from hernia surgery earlier this spring.

"I feel like I know the game now," Craig-Myers said. "Coming in, coming from high school to college, the transition can be different. I feel like having a year under my belt now I can get up to speed and play."

In order to do that, first he wants to build a strong rapport with the Tigers' quarterbacks so that he's on the same page with whichever one eventually earns the starting job, whether it be Sean White, Jarrett Stidham, Woody Barrett or Malik Willis. Once they're clicking, Craig-Myers said, the passing game "will be big-time" -- especially as Lindsey looks to expand the passing offense and the receivers' route trees.

 

What changes should Auburn expect on offense under offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey?

Lindsey's offensive philosophy has roots in the Air Raid scheme, but the Auburn offensive coordinator wants the Tigers to be a run, play-action team in 2017.

 

"That's every receiver's dream," Craig-Myers said of Lindsey's system. "Your eyes light up. We're a run team so when you hear the ball's coming to the outside, the perimeter, it feels good because now we feel like we can make plays."

Above it all, though, the rising sophomore receiver has one major goal in mind this spring so that he avoids a sophomore campaign similar to his frustrating freshman one.

"Just come every day at practice and make myself better, and then making my teammates better," Craig-Myers said. "Coming out developing, that's the biggest thing. Did I develop and be the receiver that I need to be going to the end of spring?"