MORGANTOWN —
There is a reason Tavon Austin, the precocious sophomore wide receiver who is biding time until Noel Devine leaves, will not disappoint the legion of fans who have anointed him the next great one.
Certainly, part of that reason is the electrifying talent the young man from Baltimore possesses, but you cannot succeed long term on talent alone. The shoulder of life’s highway is lined with roadkill of talented, can’t-miss athletes run over by life itself.
No, there is a profile of successful athletes that seems to emerge, one where they understand and accept their talent but are driven to find out just how much it really is. Like a product being tested for the market, they push it further and further, going as far as they can go and then a step further.
And rather than being the person most impressed by their own talents, they understand that there is a line between confidence and cockiness. In a world that has emerged out of the showboating of Muhammad Ali four or five decades back, his mostly for show as he built his own personal treasury, today’s athlete can be rather irritating with his brand of showmanship.
Austin could well sit back and say, “Look at my freshman year. I am the greatest! There is more to come. No one can top me.”
In his heart, perhaps, he does feel that way, but in a confident manner. What makes him stand so tall for such a short person is his attitude. When it was brought up to him that even though he had a wonderful freshman season coming off the bench and returning kicks, he had merely dipped his toe into the pool and we wondered if he understood that.
He did.
“I’ve got to put up or shut up now,” he said.
There was no crowing about the past, no sitting on whatever laurels he had earned as a freshman.
This year, starting at wide receiver, is a new challenge, a different one than when he was a running back. It is as if he is beginning anew.
“Last year it was just putting my little toe in the pool,” he said, going back to the question’s theme. “This year they’re throwing me in there head first and hopefully I can go in and make a big difference on the field.
“We turn it all loose this year.”
It won’t be easy, of course. The star of the show is still Devine, the offense coming off him, which makes Austin a member of the supporting cast. And there’s a matter of the fact that he surprises no one this year with his speed and moves. People have film of him.
That he shucks aside confidently and playfully.
“I’ve still got a lot of stuff left. I haven’t brought out my kick slide yet. I want to do that on somebody,” he said, laughing.
Let us, at this time, go to the talent he possesses, a tremendous amount of speed.
Someone wondered if he, Devine and receiver Jock Sanders, perhaps the three fastest players on the team, had ever raced.
“We raced 15 yards,” he said. “Jock won one, Noel won one and I won a couple. Whoever gets the jump wins.”
What this does is develop a tricky situation for West Virginia’s opponents this season. Each is a touchdown waiting to happen.
“It’s overwhelming for the defense,” Austin explained. “They normally pick out one guy. But if I’m on one side, Jock on the other and Noel in the backfield, who are they going to pick out? We can stretch the field.”
The transition to college has been easy in some regards for Austin, but the conversion to the wide receiver role hasn’t simply been a matter of sticking him out there, like we did as kids with our fastest player, and saying, “Go deep.”
“I’ve had to do a lot in the weight room,” he said. “I never lifted weights in high school. And a lot of wide receivers helped with the routes.”
Mentally, Austin has accepted the change, but he still looks upon himself as a running back playing wide receiver.
“My love is still at running back. At the same time, at wide receiver I don’t get hit that much, so I’m saving my body. I guess you can say I like wide receiver, too,” he said.
Certainly he should like running back. As a running back he owns the Maryland career record for points with 790, touchdowns with 123, and total offense with 9,258 yards ... six miles.
It’s heady stuff, so it was only natural to check the baseball cap he was wearing.
It was size 7 1/8.
“I still got my little head,” he said.
It doesn’t appear that will ever change, and that’s good.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
WVU Sports
Related Photos
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A likely future starter at running back, West Virginia University speedster Tavon Austin (1) is moving to receiver this year. PHOTO BY TAMMY SHRIVER
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