Tavon Austin would be lying if he said the thought never entered his mind.
By the time the Orange Bowl celebration concluded, WVU’s inside receiver could look at his resume and find a variety of reasons encouraging him to consider declaring for April’s NFL Draft.
He ended the 2011 season as the nation’s leader in all-purpose yardage (198.0 per game). The 5-9, 174-pound Baltimore native had just set a BCS record with four touchdown receptions, as well as Orange Bowl records for catches (10) and all-purpose yards (280). He proved to be the most athletic and gifted athlete on the field on one of the game’s biggest stages.
So was he close to ending his amateur career?
“You definitely do think about it, but at the same time, you’ve got to look at all the people coming out,” Austin said. “I think (this upcoming) year is my year. Hopefully I will get a chance at the next level (in 2013).”
And so the NFL aspirations were shelved for 12 months as Austin turned his attention toward leading the Mountaineers through their first season in the Big 12 Conference.
As difficult as it may be for those Clemson defenders to believe, Austin was more dependable, effective and faster in preseason practices.
“He’s looking really good. He’s got a great attitude and he’s playing a lot faster than he did,” coach Dana Holgorsen said.
“He’s a fast player, but he only played fast about 15 percent of the time. When the ball is in his hands, he’s fast. And when the ball wasn’t in his hands, he wasn’t. But now he’s playing fast all the time, and he looks like a totally different guy, which is obviously exciting.”
Austin said it was a matter of maturing and realizing all the NFL’s great receivers go 100 percent no matter the situation or play call. Plus, he has his eyes set on a bigger prize.
The 70-33 Orange Bowl victory showed “we can play with any team in the country,” Austin said. “If we take care of our business (in the offseason) on all three sides of the ball, everybody buys in and gets stronger and faster, hopefully we can go to the national championship.”
He’s not the only Mountaineer with lofty expectations.
“We believe that we’re contenders,” quarterback Geno Smith said, “but we’ve definitely got to come out and prove it.”