It wasn’t hard to tell that Tavon Austin was fast by watching him play. Just a few mnutes of tape from his West Virginia days and you knew that, regardless of the opponent, he was always going to be one of the fastest, if not the fastest, players on the field.
So it came as no surprise when Austin ran a 4.34-second 40-yard dash, tied for the second-fastest among wide receivers at the NFL Combine with Texas A&M’s Ryan Swope and behind only Texas’ Marquise Goodwin (4.27 seconds, the best time ever by a wide receiver at the Combine).
It was that run that convinced ESPN NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay to name Austin one of his NFL Combine winners. Austin also recorded 14 reps on on the bench press, a 32-inch vertical jump, a 120-inch broad jump and a time of 4.01 seconds in the 20-yard shuffle.
“Coming into the combine, the only negative was that Austin lacked prototypical size,” McShay wrote. “He’s one of the quickest football players I’ve ever studied, and with the 4.38 40-yard dash he ran, which was the second-fastest of all WRs, Austin confirmed what we had seen on tape. Tenneessee’s Cordarrelle Patterson may be the most explosive athlete at receiver, but Austin could push him to be the first WR drafted. Even if he isn’t, Austin locked down a spot in the first round, and possibly the top 25.”
Austin is No. 31 onMcShay’s list of the top 32 prospects available in April’s NFL Draft.