Tavon Austin models himself after Wes Welker

Future NFL draftee WR Tavon Austin had a chance to talk to the media a little while ago. The former West Virginia Mountaineer is projected to be picked up in the late first-round of the NFL Draft this coming April. When asked about his style of play at the NFL Combine, the star WR seems to identify himself to Pro Bowler Wes Welker...

“Wes Welker, that’s the No. 1 guy,” he said. “I see how Wes does it, I watch a lot of tape of him, and I think I move a little quicker and faster than Wes, so if he can do it, I know I can do it [too].”

The WEEI article (linked above) made the point that West Virginia's head coach Dana Holgersen was also Welker's wide receivers coach at Texas Tech. Standing at 5'9" and 174 lbs, Austin does have a similar build to Welker's 5'9", 185 lbs. As far as his claim that he is faster, evidence shows that he could be right. At the 2004 NFL Combine, Welker ran a 4.65 second 40-yard dash. With this year's combine just around the corner we'll see if Austin can put his money where his mouth is. Supposedly, his 40-yard dash time has ranged from 4.2 - 4.29 s.

With the Patriots' future at the wide receiver position uncertain, word has been spread that they could be interested in drafting a wide receiver, if a solid talent were to fall to them at the pick #29. Would Austin be a good fit? I don't see why not. He has shown much love to Welker's game and devoted much of his time studying and learning from it. At 5'9", Austin will likely find most success at the slot receiver position. Since he grew up a fan of the Patriots and Ravens, I would assume that Austin would love to play for either team. It's possible that he could be his own role model's replacement.

Some info courtesy of NFL.com
Anthony Aidonidis
@aidonidis18