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Wide receiver position of strength


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Wide receiver the position of strength for Auburn's offense this spring

Updated Feb 22; Posted Feb 22

3-4 minutes

We're taking a look at each position group as Auburn prepares to open spring practice on March 1. The third of a nine-part series looks at the wide receivers.

Auburn returns all of its top wide receivers from last season, including Ryan Davis and Darius Slayton.

With the receivers who caught a combined 17 touchdowns and a returning starting quarterback, Auburn's aerial game is in good shape this offseason even if Jarrett Stidham will miss at least four spring practices.

Projected depth chart:
Split end:
Darius Slayton, redshirt-junior, 29 receptions for 643 yards and five touchdowns
Nate Craig-Myers, junior, 16 receptions for 285 yards and three touchdowns
Marquis McClain, redshirt-sophomore, 2 receptions for 47 yards

Flanker:
Ryan Davis, senior, 84 receptions for 814 yards and five touchdowns
Eli Stove, junior, 29 receptions for 265 yards
Shedrick Jackson, freshman

Slot:
Will Hastings, senior, 26 receptions for 525 yards and four touchdowns
Noah Igbinoghene, sophomore, 6 receptions for 24 yards
Griffin King, redshirt-junior, one reception for 0 yards

Big Slot:
Nate Craig-Myers, junior, 16 receptions for 285 yards and three touchdowns
Sal Cannella, junior, 3 receptions for 31 yards
Shedrick Jackson, freshman

Departed: N/A

Due to arrive in the fall:  Matthew Hill, Anthony Schwartz, Seth Williams

Outlook: There's a case to be made that the strength of Auburn's offense heading into 2018 will be its passing game and a big reason why is the receiving corps.

The key parts are all back and have spent several years in the system. Having so many veteran receivers back should benefit the duo of young quarterbacks who will get the majority of reps for at least the first half of spring.

It's hard to expect Ryan Davis to do more than his program record setting 84 catches last season and he's clearly the leader of the group in terms of production.

Darius Slayton was the top deep threat, as the split end always is in Gus Malzahn's offense. His spring will be focused on drops though after he had issues with that last season.

Will Hastings had a breakout year and could be asked to do more entering his senior season.

A second divide in production comes after those three.

Eli Stove was more productive as a runner than receiver, though it's the job he was asked to do and he did well in it.

Nate Craig-Myers didn't have the kind of year many were expecting, particularly after he had a good spring last year.

Sal Cannella had an extremely disappointing debut season given how much the coaching staff built him up as a matchup nightmare and red zone weapon.

Whether Craig-Myers and Cannella can show improvement in the spring will be an early indication of whether they'll be able to do more in the fall.

How much Noah Igbinoghene can develop this spring in order to get on the field more will be something worth watching as well.

Shedrick Jackson is the one early enrollee of the four wide outs to sign in this year's class and is expected to play an inside role.

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  • WarTiger changed the title to Wide receiver position of strength
1 hour ago, DAG said:

5 wide U

*crosses fingers* I've been talking about this for a while. I want at least one change in the starting lineup at wr. I would love to see McClain tear up secondaries as it looks like he should and I want to see Iggy get some PT at wr and hopefully not run straight into defenders. I know Slayton is going to do his thing along with RD but NCM needs to bring it. IDK what to expect with Sal or Eli since it seems like they're treating him like stanton truitt....more of a rb than wr. 5 wide would do wonders for the offense....and so would using two-rb sets.......and a TE......and slants....and curl routes...

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On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 10:53 AM, WFE12 said:

*crosses fingers* I've been talking about this for a while. I want at least one change in the starting lineup at wr. I would love to see McClain tear up secondaries as it looks like he should and I want to see Iggy get some PT at wr and hopefully not run straight into defenders. I know Slayton is going to do his thing along with RD but NCM needs to bring it. IDK what to expect with Sal or Eli since it seems like they're treating him like stanton truitt....more of a rb than wr. 5 wide would do wonders for the offense....and so would using two-rb sets.......and a TE......and slants....and curl routes...

You left out our third most productive WR.Will Hastings, senior, 26 receptions for 525 yards and four touchdowns.

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Moderate passes in the midfield need to be utilized. It was only screens and deep passes last season. Some games it worked, and the games we lost, they didn’t work at all. 

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5 hours ago, kd4au said:

You left out our third most productive WR.Will Hastings, senior, 26 receptions for 525 yards and four touchdowns.

He needs more than the usual post route or whatever that route is called. Will is the goat and we could do so much more damage with him but I don't think we'll get that from the offense.

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5 hours ago, WFE12 said:

He needs more than the usual post route or whatever that route is called. Will is the goat and we could do so much more damage with him but I don't think we'll get that from the offense.

Most of the passes Hastings caught were intermediate passes over the middle. You know, the ones people say we never throw.

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On 2/24/2018 at 10:53 AM, WFE12 said:

*crosses fingers* I've been talking about this for a while. I want at least one change in the starting lineup at wr. I would love to see McClain tear up secondaries as it looks like he should and I want to see Iggy get some PT at wr and hopefully not run straight into defenders. I know Slayton is going to do his thing along with RD but NCM needs to bring it. IDK what to expect with Sal or Eli since it seems like they're treating him like stanton truitt....more of a rb than wr. 5 wide would do wonders for the offense....and so would using two-rb sets.......and a TE......and slants....and curl routes...

+ a QB = 9

would certainly reduce the number of new OLs we need to ID

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On 2/25/2018 at 10:10 PM, Mikey said:

Most of the passes Hastings caught were intermediate passes over the middle. You know, the ones people say we never throw.

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSNjCC0xjCDTdihfuUmgDc

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We have the QB and receivers  to be better than good,  Coaching on the O side of the ball is our biggest problem..

wde

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