STARKVILLE — Gabe Myles can look back on the first four years of his Mississippi State career and candidly recognize a reality of playing college football: players are not immune to outside noise.
“It’s no secret. We get on social media and we see things, we see what people say,” Myles said. “We go to the same school, you root for us but you say these things about us. At some point when things are going well and doubt starts to creep in, you wonder if they might be right.”
He also acknowledges its impact on his career — particularly last season, ending with eight catches for 63 yards and no touchdowns. The offseason between then and now has been a bit of a mental revolution for the Starkville native; now he’s more mentally prepared than ever to be a big part of MSU’s wide receiving corps.
“It’s a confidence thing. Don’t think about what could happen, the negatives and everything, just the positives: if the ball’s in the air, go make a play,” Myles said. “I’m in this position for a reason, they put me here, they trust me.
“If I’m having fun, I’m not worrying about anything that might go wrong.”
The game was probably more fun his freshman year, when he caught 22 passes for 178 yards. Those numbers still stand as his career highs for a single season, although he did score two touchdowns in 2015 as a sophomore.
Preseason camp presented Myles with every opportunity to surpass those numbers. Myles is part of a deep receiving corps that’s competing for targets in the absence of last year’s far and away leading receiver, Fred Ross. Donald Gray is a given, but everything beyond that is for the taking going into Saturday’s season opener against Charleston Southern. Myles hopes the confidence he has been seeking comes with the prominent role he’s chasing.
“You know you have the trust of the entire team at that point,” Myles said. “You know they want to get you the ball, they trust you to do this.”
Even if the playing time and production don’t come immediately as he expects, he’s prepared for it. Myles described a bit of a bunker mentality among the wide receiver group in which they can, “trust in our brothers, because, honestly, no one else knows what it’s like to be a receiver here.” He’s gone out of his way to improve his body language and self-talk for when those times come — and he knows they will come.
He’s seen it before and now he’s prepared for it.
“I keep going back to having fun and trying to compete,” Myles said. “Adversity’s going to hit and you have to be ready to respond to it. So you drop a pass: oh well, that’s my bad, but you better throw me the ball again because I’m coming back harder, I’m going to get open and this time my concentration will be there.”
The timing of the new approach to football is perfect: Myles is entering his senior season. MSU coach Dan Mullen has seen in Myles a player that can, as he put it, see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“I’ve seen him make a bunch of plays for us and he’s playing with a little more confidence,” Mullen said. “I think that will really help him as he moves forward. (Myles) going out in practice and making the plays that he knows he needs to make for our offense during games is going to give him confidence when he is in game situations.”
It all goes back to what Myles told himself going into the preseason.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while. It’s time to go out with a bang.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter, @Brett_Hudson
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