Dameyune Craig

 Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt has played host to many memorable nights since opening its doors way back in 1925. From The Rolling Stones to Michael Jackson, World Cup Quarter-Finals and European Championships, the capacity 51,500 stadium has seen it all. But in May 1999 this historic German venue witnessed American football history.

It was Saturday 22nd May 1999 in Frankfurt and the (3-2) Scottish Claymores were in town. 33,915 raucous German supporters were doing their bit to rattle Jim Criner’s Claymores offense. Dameyune Craig was no stranger to the reverberant audio of a football arena. The quarterback’s Saturdays in the South included road games at Florida, Alabama, LSU and Georgia, which as an Auburn Tiger provide anything but warm welcomes. But even SEC country failed to intimidate Dameyune as much as the Frankfurt faithful. 

“To this date, the loudest game I ever played in”, he revealed, “the difference is that in Europe they can bring whistles. You got whistles going off, it was so loud at the end of the game they were trying to tell me the play and I couldn’t hear in the microphone. So we had to call a timeout.” 

Frankfurt Galaxy’s crowd did their bit in the terraces, but on the field it was the Scots who prevailed, notching their 4th win of the season with a 42-35 victory. It was to be the final win for the Claymores in 1999, as they failed to reach the postseason, but the bigger picture was the individual exploits of the QB in white that evening. Claymores QB Dameyune Craig was oblivious until full-time, but he’d just punched his ticket to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Dameyune went 27/37 passing, with 611 yards and 5 touchdowns as he shattered the 48 year pro football record for passing yards in a single game (554 yards set by Norm Van Brocklin of the LA Rams), and he had no idea. 

“I knew I had a big first half”, Dameyune remembers. Usually in instances like this, when he feels he’s on a hot streak and putting up big first half or three quarter numbers, his day doesn’t last till end of regulation. “Normally when I play that well, I only play 2 or 3 quarters, because we’d be up so much. But I just happened to get into the zone this game, and it happened to be a close game”, he recalls. 

Dameyune’s 41-yard touchdown pass to Donald Sellars deep in the 4th quarter sealed the record, but it was the opposing QB who first broke the historic news. “After the games over, Jake Delholme came up to me and said ‘bro congratulations, you just threw for 600 yards’ and I was like ‘no?’”, in a state of disbelief perhaps fuelled by the adrenaline of having just accomplished such a bizarre feat. 

“It was a blessing and a curse”, Dameyune insisted, “because I’m the type of person, I never look at myself as having a good game. 611 yards, 5 touchdowns, no interceptions, we win the game 42-35. And in my mind I have to do more. Because we almost lost the game. I started pressing more the last 4 games because I thought I had to do more. And I should’ve just been doing what I was doing.”

Nevertheless, Dameyune cemented his place in NFL history, with his helmet, shirt and cleats from that outing in Frankfurt proudly stored in Canton, Ohio. When NFL Europe eventually ceased operations in 2007 Dameyune admits he felt bittersweet about the decision. “When it shut down I was very disappointed, but I knew my records couldn’t be broken!” 

Whilst Dameyune’s career has been defined by those three figures, 611, he was one of the rising stars of college football when Terry Bowden listed him as Auburn’s starting QB for the 1996 season. The Tigers went 8-4 that first year with Dameyune leading the offense, defeats to LSU, Florida (away), Georgia and Alabama (away) the only black marks on an otherwise auspicious campaign on the plains. A 32-29 win over Army in the 96’ Independence Bowl earned Dameyune the accolade of MVP, setting the tone for his senior year.

In 1997 Dameyune and the Tigers improved to 9-2 in the regular season, clinching the team’s first ever SEC West title and thus setting up a mouthwatering SEC Championship game with Peyton Manning’s Tennessee Volunteers. Manning threw four touchdowns as the Vols clawed back from a 20-7 deficit to topple the Tigers 30-29. But despite the heartache that Peyton Manning caused yet another opponent, the Tigers ended the campaign with a Peach Bowl win over Clemson. In his final game as an Auburn Tiger Dameyune picked up another bowl game MVP as he guided his team to 15 unanswered points and a come from behind 21-17 win.

I fired up YouTube and found the 97’ SEC Championship to watch Dameyune go toe to toe with Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning, and immediately after doing so I had to get his take on if ‘The Sheriff’ deserved to add Heisman Trophy to his individual honours list for that campaign. 

Even 25 years later the great debate, Manning or Woodson (Charles Woodson of Michigan who won the award and became the first defensive recipient in doing so) rages on. However, Dameyune, now wide receiver coach at Texas A&M, feels neither were his pick. “You know who should’ve won it that year?”, I was intrigued. “Randy”, he said, “I think Randy Moss should’ve won it.” Peyton Manning and Charles Woodson were unquestionably up there with college football’s elite, not only in 1997, but in all of college football’s 150+ year history. But in 1997 Randy Moss posted 1820 receiving yards for Marshall, the 10th most in a single college football campaign, as well as 26 receiving touchdowns, the 2nd highest in a single season. 

Dameyune knows a little something about wide receivers. He became WR coach at Texas A&M after following National Champion Jimbo Fisher when he departed Tallahassee for College Station, having previously worked under Jimbo as QB coach and later recruitment coordinator with Florida State. In 2012 Dameyune was named ACC Recruiter of the Year, due in part for bringing Jameis Winston to the Noles, which in turn led to their 2013 National title. 

Dameyune’s relationship with Jimbo Fisher goes way back to the mid 90s when Jimbo was employed as QB coach for the Tigers. In fact Jimbo’s influence on Dameyune could even have led to a Heisman Trophy of his own. “That season, we played Florida our 7th game, I was leading going into that game. He [Peyton Manning] lost to Florida like two weeks prior and then I was the leading Heisman Trophy candidate at the time, then we lost to Florida.” Dameyune believed that both Peyton’s and his own loss to the Gators in 1997 were pivotal in the Heisman Trophy race. Auburn were shut out at home to Mississippi State in their penultimate home fixture whilst Tennessee just barely scraped past Vanderbilt (17-10) during rivalry week. Meanwhile Charles Woodson had his ‘Heisman moment’ as he returned a 78-yard punt to the house against 4th ranked Ohio State to cap an undefeated regular season. 

But even with the impressive 1997 campaign, which saw him become the first Auburn quarterback to ever throw for 3000 yards in a single season, Dameyune’s phone remained silent on Draft Day 1998. Although nowadays a mobile QB is the most sought after component for just about every franchise, back in 1998 QBs like Dameyune were few and far between in the NFL landscape. 

“If I came out in this day and age I’d probably be a 1st or 2nd round pick.” Dameyune shared. In black and white that probably reads as arrogance, but there was none of that here, I could tell from footage he was right. Peyton Manning has a couple of Super Bowl rings and a place in Canton forever, but if he and Dameyune had been competing head to head in 2022, who you draft first out of the pair wouldn’t be so straight forward. 

“We were one of the only teams, when I was in college, that 90% of the time I was in the shotgun.” The NFL is shifting towards the mobile QB, playing under centre isn’t the be all and end all anymore. But in 1999, when Dameyune found himself a mile high in the air heading to Glasgow he’d been sent with instructions, learn to play the NFL way. 

The Carolina Panthers had picked Dameyune up as an undrafted free-agent in 1998, but by the following Spring they felt some game time over in NFL Europe could help the former Auburn starter to enhance his skills whilst learning to play under centre. “They wanted me to get used to playing back under centre, taking snaps, play action, what have you. So one of the stipulations when I get to Europe is that I’d never get in the shotgun.” NFL Europe was a stepping stone for so many who would go on to achieve greatness in the NFL, Kurt Warner, Adam Vinatieri, James Harrison, etc, but it was also used as a professional platform to mould players into what their franchises back home aspired. 

“At the time I never saw it as a problem, I was a shorter guy, I could see the field better, get away from the line of scrimmage. At the time, 1997/1998, the game wasn’t played that way. They wanted me to go to Europe to actually learn how to play the NFL game.” Dameyune was a little too soon for his generation as it turned out. It’s controversial, but you have to think Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, etc would’ve struggled to break out in 1990s NFL.

When they arrived in Glasgow the Claymores team stayed in a hotel in Glasgow’s city centre. During their time here Dameyune studied plenty, watching film and sometimes even creating his own plays. Generally, he was abiding by Carolina’s request and perfecting his game. The Claymores started the 1999 season strong with 3 wins out of their first 4 outings, with the only defeat coming via overtime, 42-35 at home to Frankfurt. But a poor end to the campaign saw the Scots go 1-4 in the backend of the year and miss the postseason.

In June 1999 Dameyune boarded a flight back to Carolina to continue his pursuit in the pros. In 2000 he entered 4 NFL matches for the Panthers including a 5-yard run in a home victory over Green Bay. The following campaign Dameyune found himself involved in 2 Carolina games, but just one year on his NFL career was over. A brief stint with the Indiana Firebirds of the Arena Football League in 2002 and Dameyune’s playing days were brought to a halt, opening the door for coaching opportunities. 

Almost immediately into his coaching venture Dameyune’s bond with former QB coach Jimbo Fisher proved to be very strong. Fisher was LSU OC and QB coach between 2000-06 under Nick Saban, 4 years into Fisher’s role Dameyune moved to Baton Rouge to join the coaching staff, and clearly left a positive imprint as Fisher hired his former QB protégé in his first year as head coach at Florida State, 2010. Dameyune spent 3 years as FSU’s QB coach. Yet Dameyune’s influence in Florida State would return to scar him the next season as his former recruit Jameis Winston defeated Auburn in the 2013 National Championship game, with Dameyune back at his alma-mater as Gus Malzahn’s new WR coach. After two more years with Auburn Dameyune made a Tiger transfer and headed back to Death Valley to become Les Miles’ WR coach for the 2016 campaign. Coach Miles’ sacking midway through 2016 saw Ed Orgeron slot in as interim head-coach, but at the end of his brief first season with LSU Dameyune was relieved of his duties and found himself once again under Jimbo Fisher, back in Tallahassee. Fisher’s National Championship success with Florida State caught the eye of the Texas A&M Aggies who threw a considerable amount of money at Fisher to become their new man in charge for the 2018 season onwards. Dameyune quickly followed suit and as we edge just a few months closer to kick off he is preparing for his 5th consecutive year in College Station, Texas.

Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher, Les Miles, and very briefly but nonetheless, Ed Orgeron, Dameyune has coached alongside and under the guidance of 4 National Champion head coaches. When I prodded him as to wether this is a sign of his future as a head coach, Dameyune went full circle, “I wanna come back to Europe and coach man! They start football back up over there you let me know.”

Dameyune Craig’s legacy won’t be defined by his Carolina Panthers career, his Arena Football career, and it may not even be defined by 611 yards in Germany. His career isn’t finished. With a CV choc-a-bloc with some of the country’s greatest college football institutions and the stature of his references (Saban, Fisher, etc..) the second chapter in Dameyune’s football life could take him anywhere. Even though you can already find his name in the hallowed halls of Canton.