Dameyune Vashon Craig (born April 19, 1974) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player. He is currently the Quarterbacks coach at the

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. Craig played professionally as

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for four seasons with the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

Early years

Craig played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

for Mattie T. Blount High School in

Prichard, Alabama Prichard is a city in Mobile County, Alabama, Mobile County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 19,322, down from 22,659 at the 2010 census. It is a part of the Mobile metropolitan area. Prichard borders ...

, near

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

. He helped lead his team to two state championships in 1990 and 1992. In 1992 Craig threw for 2,236 yards with 19 tds and he also rushed for 1,250 yards with 14 TDs while helping to lead his team to a second State title

College career

Craig played college football at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

from 1993 to 1997, where he wore jersey number 16. He was redshirted for the undefeated 1993 season, during

Terry Bowden Terry Wilson Bowden (; born February 24, 1956) is an American college football coach, currently the head coach at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Bowden was previously head coach at Salem University (1983–1985), Samford University (1987 ...

's first year as head coach, then served as the backup quarterback to starter

Patrick Nix Patrick Nix is an American football coach and former player. He played college football as a quarterback at Auburn University from 1992 to 1995. Nix served as the head football coach at Henderson State University from 1999 to 2000, compiling a ...

during 1994 and 1995 (and was MVP of the spring game in 1994 and 1995). Occasionally during those two seasons he would enter the game at quarterback in place of Nix in goalline situations, where his running ability could be put to good use. He was named Auburn's starting quarterback for the 1996 and 1997 seasons. He led Auburn to victory over Army in the

Independence Bowl The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bowl ...

in 1996, while winning the MVP award and setting Auburn offensive team record of 588 total yards in a 62–0 victory over Fresno State. He also prevailed over

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

in the

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially re ...

in 1997 where he was also named the MVP. In that ten-win senior season, he also led the Tigers to the SEC Western Division title and a berth in the

SEC Championship Game The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. The championship game pits the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regula ...

in Atlanta. Despite a strong performance by Craig, Auburn suffered a narrow loss to

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and four with th ...

's heavily favored

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

, 30–29. Craig holds the single season passing record and he was the first QB in Auburn rich QB history to throw for over 3,000 yards

Professional career

Craig's

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

career was spent entirely with the

, with whom he signed as an undrafted free agent in 1998. Craig played quarterback for Carolina sparingly between 1998 and 2001. Craig also played in

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

with the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, E ...

, where he set a professional

-record by passing for 611 yards in a game between the Claymores and the

Frankfurt Galaxy Two American football franchises have been referred to as the Frankfurt Galaxy: * Frankfurt Galaxy (NFL Europe), active in NFL Europe between 1991 and 2007 * Frankfurt Galaxy (ELF) The Frankfurt Galaxy is an American football team in Frankfurt, ...

on May 22, 1999. His jersey from the game hangs in the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

. Craig's professional playing career ended after spending the 2002 season with the

Indiana Firebirds The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League. The team was based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Home games were played at the Conseco Fieldhouse, also the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and Indiana ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

Coaching career

Blount High School

Craig entered the coaching ranks with a season as an assistant at his alma mater Blount High School.

LSU

Craig then spent a season as a graduate assistant at Louisiana State University (LSU) with his previous quarterbacks coach at Auburn,

Jimbo Fisher John James "Jimbo" Fisher Jr. (born October 9, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies Football, Texas A&M Aggies. Previously, Fisher was the head coach at Florida State Seminol ...

, in 2004.

Miami Dolphins

In 2005, he followed LSU head coach

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...

to the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

as a special teams assistant coach.

Tuskegee

In 2006, Craig left to become the quarterbacks coach for the Division II

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was d ...

's Golden Tigers. Tuskegee won two

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Formed in 1913, it consists mostly of historically black co ...

in Craig's two seasons on staff. They also won the

black college football national championship The black college football national championship is a national championship honor that, since 1920, has been regularly bestowed upon the best football teams among historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) within the United States. Histo ...

in 2007.

South Alabama

Craig became the wide receivers coach at the

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May, 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. The first ...

in 2008.

Florida State

Craig became the

quarterbacks coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

(FSU) in December 2009, again reuniting with Fisher, who had been designated as the head coach starting in January 2010. Craig was also recruiting coordinator, and was responsible for recruiting future Heisman Trophy winning quarterback

Jameis Winston Jameis Lanaed Winston ( ; born January 6, 1994) is an American football quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida State, where he became the youngest player to win the He ...

. FSU secured multiple highly ranked recruiting classes during his time there, and he was named 2012

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) Recruiter of the Year by both

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

and

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

Auburn

Craig became the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at his alma mater after being hired by Auburn University head coach

Gus Malzahn Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III (; born October 28, 1965) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Central Florida (UCF Knights football, UCF). He was the head football coach at Auburn University from 2013 t ...

in January 2013.

LSU

In February 2016, Craig left Auburn to become the wide receiver's coach for LSU under

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

. After Miles was fired during the 2016 season, Craig was fired in February 2017.

Florida State

In the spring of 2017, Craig returned to Florida State to again work for Jimbo Fisher, where he accepted the position of Quality Control of Offense.FSU 2017 Media Guide http://cs.seminoles.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ec457f65-04_coaches.pdf?_ga=2.215135122.425998689.1509321697-1961772514.1509321697

Texas A&M

In January 2018, Craig followed Fisher to

to become the wide receivers coach for the Aggies.

References

External links

Texas A&M profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Dameyune 1974 births Living people American football quarterbacks Auburn Tigers football players Carolina Panthers players Florida State Seminoles football coaches LSU Tigers football coaches Ottawa Renegades players Scottish Claymores players South Alabama Jaguars football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches Tuskegee Golden Tigers football coaches Washington Redskins players High school football coaches in Alabama Sportspeople from Mobile, Alabama Coaches of American football from Alabama Players of American football from Alabama African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople