Tavon Austin Takes Snaps at Running Back for St. Louis Rams
By Josh Hill
When Tavon Austin was at West Virginia, he showed a kind of versatility that the St. Louis Rams loved so much they traded up in the draft to take him in the first round of the NFL Draft. Rams fans are now seeing that versatility in practice as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Rams rookie has taken some handoffs in practice which fits right in with how St. Louis plans to use him.
"Tavon Austin, chosen No. 8 overall in the recent NFL draft, took a few handoffs midway through practice. At West Virginia last fall, in addition to catching 114 passes for 1,289 yards and 12 touchdowns, Austin rushed 72 times for 643 yards and three scores."
It should come as no surprise that Austin was taking handoffs as he did this while still at West Virginia. While he was racking up receiving yards, Austin was also flying out of the backfield as a dual-threat talent for the Mountaineers and that’s something St. Louis is hoping translates to the NFL.
In fact, they’re betting on it. St. Louis moved up in the draft with the Buffalo Bills to take Austin in the top 10 of the draft order and it’s almost a surprise it took this long for the Rams to try him out of the backfield. Austin has drawn comparisons to Percy Harvin and the Seahawks receiver was a dual offensive threat for the Vikings last season before he went down with an injury.
The same kind of production is expected out of Austin and the Rams are almost taunting teams at this point with his talents. They’re not hiding the fact that Austin will play all over the offense and they’re daring teams to try and find a way to stop it — which is easier said than done.