LSU hires Dameyune Craig as wide receivers coach

Well, that didn't take long.

A few hours after the rumors started to make the rounds, LSU officially announced the hiring of Auburn wide receivers coach/co-offensive coordinator Dameyune Craig to replace the outgoing Tony Ball.

"Dameyune is a quarterback by nature so he's going to be a tremendous asset to us in all phases of the passing game," Miles said. "He coached a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback at Florida State and developed some outstanding receivers at Auburn.

"He comes to us with great coaching credentials as well as being a proven recruiter. We look forward to the contributions that he's going to bring to our football program."

Craig joins LSU after serving on the Auburn staff as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for three years. In 2013, Craig helped Auburn to the SEC title and an appearance in the BCS National Championship game that year.

"I want to thank the Auburn family for all of their love and support over the years," Craig said. "My decision to make this career move is in no way a reflection of Auburn or the Auburn family. It is strictly a professional decision. It's about growing as a coach and, hopefully, one day becoming a head coach.

"Auburn has played a pivotal role in my professional and personal life. Words can't express how grateful I am to the Auburn family and all of the incredible people who are part of that wonderful community. I will forever be indebted to the opportunities that Auburn gave me."

On face value, this looks like another coup for Les Miles after the hires of Dave Aranda and Jabbar Juluke. The former Auburn quarterback has been considered one of the top assistants in the Southeast for several years now.

His reputation is mostly built as a recruiter -- Rivals counts him as one of the 25 best recruiting assistants in the country -- and while Auburn's wide receivers have been hit or miss in the last few seasons, that's arguably more of a product of Auburn's overall passing struggles at QB. Plus, guys like Sammie Coates and Ricardo Louis developed nicely under Craig. D'haquille Williams had his own problems.

Craig served as Jimbo Fisher's quarterbacks coach at Florida State from 2010-2012 before heading to Auburn with Gus Malzahn. So while yes, he worked in a spread type of scheme at Auburn, he does have a background in an offense similar to LSU's.

Admittedly, I didn't think LSU could pull a move like this off. Craig, at least as of now, took a demotion to come here. What's even more interesting, is sources indicate that Craig reached out to LSU initially about the running backs position. So he clearly wanted out of Auburn. Maybe there will be some sort of "passing game coordinator" title, or maybe he'll take over as recruiting coordinator. Cam Cameron's status still seems a bit up in the air without a signed contract extension, but that could change any day now. And Miles has continually said that he wants to keep Cameron here.

Those questions will be answered in the coming weeks. Regardless, this is a pretty big blow for Auburn, and a pretty big hire for LSU.