15 college football recruits who had the sickest high school highlight tape

7. Tavon Austin

From the first time you see Tavon Austin on the field in his high school highlight tape, you know you’re watching a special football player. The way he moved at Dunbar High School in Baltimore was not something you regularly see, particularly from a kid in their mid-teens. His combination of top-end speed, quickness, burst and vision made him a joy to watch as he made other players at that level look absolutely silly.

The issue with Austin, however, was always going to be his size. No matter how talented of an athlete he was, measuring in at only 5-foot-9 and tipping the scales at a meager 160 pounds as a recruit caused him to be less touted overall as a recruit. Austin was only the No. 183 overall recruit in the 2009 class and the No. 23 wide receiver.

However, he was still a fantastic addition for the West Virginia Mountaineers, a program that long recruited top-end athletes and found ways to simply get them the ball. While Austin was used sparingly in his first season, he took off as a sophomore and then amassed over 1,180 yards in both his junior and senior seasons as a pass-catcher, totaling 24 touchdowns over that span as well.

Many would argue the then-St. Louis Rams reached badly to take Austin with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. Maybe so but they were hoping his elite traits would translate. And while he’s not been a game-changer, he’s still flashed his physical tools on more than one occasion at the pro level.