Now an SEC commit, Cason Myers is ready to shine
BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — The last time Cason Myers stepped onto the field for Auburn High School, the junior quarterback walked off in tears after a furious comeback attempt against Opelika High School in the 7A semifinals fell just short.
Despite a shoulder injury that prevented him from raising his throwing arm above his head just two days before that 31-28 loss.
After starting the game on the sideline, Myers came on in relief of an injured J.D. Pate and finished with 345 total yards of offense and three total touchdowns.
With his senior season now set to start roughly six weeks from now, Myers said he is eager to retake the field at Duck Samford Stadium and get that sour taste out of his mouth.
“Going off last year, I feel really disappointed and like we let people down,” Myers said. “So going out there this year, I plan on firing on all cylinders starting Week 1 and not taking a few games to get to where we need to be. Just going out there and making a statement in the first game.”
That resolve arrives with plenty of recent accolades behind it.
Myers, a three-star prospect in the Class of 2027, committed to the University of Arkansas earlier this summer. He said he chose the Razorbacks after an official visit to Fayetteville in late May and by saying plenty of prayers.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound gunslinger picked Arkansas over more than two dozen other schools that included West Virginia, North Carolina, Purdue, Iowa State and Houston, among others.
“I’m just trying to really play and figure out what the best fit was, and then going to Fayetteville and seeing it up there, it was awesome. I love the coaches,” Myers said. “So I came back home, I prayed about it and I felt like that’s where I’m supposed to be.”
With that decision behind him, he said the noise is finally quiet and that a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.
“I feel like now it’s just full focus on winning a blue map this year,” Myers said, a reference to the map-shaped trophy that goes to Alabama’s high school state champions.
To accomplish that lofty goal, however, Myers will need to build on what was a stellar 2025 campaign.
As a junior, Myers completed 69.9% of his passes for 2,490 passing yards, 19 passing touchdowns and six interceptions while tallying 104 carries for 594 yards and seven rushing touchdowns.
In his first year as the Tigers’ signal caller, he also led the Tigers to a 10-3 overall record and a deep playoff run.
Now, for the first time, he has completed a full offseason completely healthy, and he can feel the difference. After years of nursing his shoulder and back injuries during the offseason months, Myers has also been through a full weight program for the first time, and it shows.
“Going into the season last year, I was still figuring stuff out with my hot routes and knowing where to go with the ball,” Myers said. “This year, I have a much better understanding of the offense. With most decisions the defense makes, I’m able to make a good decision off that to put us in a good spot. And if somebody does something wrong, I can see it, know what the right thing was and help correct them.”
Ask AHS head coach Keith Etheredge about his quarterback, and the football talk quickly turns personal.
“I get emotional when I talk about him, because he’s one of those kids who’s a throwback kid,” Etheredge said. “He reminds you of all those hard-working, blue-collar kids you’ve coached in the past. I’ve been blessed to coach some really good quarterbacks, some really, really good quarterbacks, and he’s at the top of that list.”
Etheredge sees a gunslinger with a linebacker’s temperament, the kind of competitor who has to be reminded not to put his body on the line too often.
“He’s going to take chances and pull that thing down and run, and it doesn’t matter how many times you tell him, ‘You’ve got to slide, you’ve got to get out of bounds,’” Etheredge said. “He plays football like a linebacker. He may be one of the fiercest competitors I’ve ever coached.”
He is also, Etheredge was quick to note, still young and with room to grow. Myers was 16 for the entirety of last season and only recently turned 17.
“He isn’t even near his ceiling,” Etheredge said. “When he hits that ceiling, watch out. There’s not another quarterback around I’d rather have than him, because he checks all the boxes. Some quarterbacks might do this really well or do that really well. He does it all really well.”
Etheredge’s belief in what could have been last year is unshakable.
Myers was banged up heading into the playoffs, and AHS tried to hold him out of the game against OHS to protect him. When Pate went down and the season was on the line, Myers made his case.
“He comes up to me and was like, ‘Coach, you’ve got to let me. Just please, coach, let me try it. If I don’t look good, you can pull me,’” Etheredge said. “So, he goes out there and just starts chewing them up. If he’s healthy at the end of the year last year, we’re playing for a state championship. I truly believe that.”
If last year’s offense leaned heavily on its young quarterback’s shoulders, Myers signals he is happy to spread the ball around this fall, and there are plenty of weapons to feed.
Among them is senior transfer receiver Ja’Quez Johnson, a recent East Carolina University commit, who has come away impressed after a spring and summer catching passes from Myers.
“He’s just a great all-around quarterback,” Johnson said. “He pushes the ball exactly where it needs to be, knows how to execute, knows how to put the offense on his hands and elevate [other players]. Without the wide receiver there’s no quarterback, and without the quarterback there’s no wide receiver.”
The competition is not one-sided, and Myers is not the only rising prospect testing himself in practice.
Sophomore cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke Jr., one of the top Class of 2029 players in the state and the son of former NFL cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke, matches up against Myers every day.
“We’re getting better against each other every day and just competing,” Van Dyke Jr. said. “It’s just going to make the game easier, because I’m already going against guys like that in practice. He’s showing that he’s an SEC quarterback and SEC-ready.”
Etheredge said that Myers’ willingness to compete hard against his top teammates is the part that translates the most to Friday nights.
“If things aren’t going right, he’s one of those guys who can will you to a win,” Etheredge said. “And those guys are few and far between.”
For his part, Myers keeps circling back to the group around him and the standard he and his fellow seniors have to set now that last year’s class is gone.
“Nobody’s on top of us. We’re seniors, so it’s a different role we’ve got to step into,” Myers said. “Everybody’s looking up to us. And I feel really good about what we have. We lost people, but we’ve got some great players, and we’re just getting better and better.”
With kickoff just over a month away, Myers said he can already taste it.
“I really enjoy practice, honestly,” Myers said. “Everybody’s locked in and ready. And with it being only one month away, we’ve just got to be out here doing what we can to be ready to play.”
