NFL Draft 2013: Tavon Austin Says He’s The Best Player in the Draft
By Josh Hill
We’re just under two months away from the 2013 NFL Draft and we still don’t have a consensus No. 1 overall pick. Some experts are saying that Texas A&M offensive tackle Luke Joeckel is the best player in the draft while others are making the case for defensive lineman Star Lotulelei, edge rushers Damontre Moore and Bjoern Werner and even Geno Smith is still getting nods as one of the best prospects in the draft. But ask West Virginia wide receiver Tavon Austin who the best player in the draft is and he’s got a pretty good idea of who it is.
“I think I’m the all-around best player in the draft, ” Austin said at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. Austin enters the draft one of the most talented skill position players in the class, but his stock has fallen in the last month or so and where he used to be a late-first round selection, Austin has fallen into the second round in almost every single mock available.
That’s not discouraging him from selling the brand of Tavon Austin. When asked what kind of receiver he’ll be and if he looked up to any current receivers in the NFL that are vertically challenged, he gave some obvious answers.
“I have got a couple of guys. Percy Harvin, he’s somewhat similar to me,” Austin said. “Wes Welker, he played for the same college coach in Dana Holgorsen and he’s teaching me some of the things he’s doing so I’ve seen a lot of the film on these guys.”
Austin also believes that if it came down to a foot race to determine the best player in the draft, there would be no question it’s him.
“If we all lined up and raced I think I’d come out on top but I’m not really a 40 type of guy. I’m a game type of guy,” Austin says. “A lot of teams are looking for the type of player who can do multiple things on the field, and I think I can be that guy.”
While he’s not knocking guys like Dee Milliner or Kenny Vaccaro out of draft positions, Austin is bursting with talent and his junior and senior seasons with the Mountaineers is proof of that. Austin rushed for 4,444 yards in his four seasons at West Virginia and he caught well over 1,000 yards in each of his final two seasons.
Austin enters the draft as a slot receiving prospect, but after what Percy Harvin did in Minnesota this year, proving that an lighting fast athletic slot receiver can do more than just catch the ball, Austin won’t fall far in this year’s draft. He may not be the best players in his class but there’s no denying that Tavon Austin has a bright future ahead of him.