Where are they now?: The recruits that could have been

Out of Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, CA, Austin was lightly recruited, but those that recruited him were well known. Oregon State, Utah, Boise State, and Cal, among others, were all teams that came after Austin. But Boise State is where he set his sights, committing in June of 2012.

Watching his highlights, who wouldn’t be excited to have him? With the departure of Pettis, we were in need of another big body to support Miller, a rising star at the time. Austin didn’t have mind blowing speed, clocking in at a modest 4.68 40 time. But, those hands.  Good gravy those hands. If his quarterback got the ball within a 5 yard radius, Austin always seemed to come down with it. His senior year, he finished with 71 receptions for 1,128 yards, averaging 15.9 yards per grab. I’ll take it. For his career: 135 catches for 2,069 yards. Impressive, especially considering he’s playing in Cali.

So rejoice, fellow Broncos! We nabbed out possession receiver to create a nightmare receiving corps with Miller. Committing in June, while a bit early for some players, seemed like the right decision for Austin.

While raking in the yards his senior year, Cal waited with bated breath for the right time to strike. Fortune and misfortune  awaited BSU. A current BSU player, AJ Richardson, USED to be a Cal commit. He had second thoughts and ended up a Bronco. This created a chain of events, well, event, that ended with an offer and a flip for Austin. Jack committed to the Golden Bears at the end of January 2013. Tears were shed, but the loss of Austin was softened by the flip of Richardson. Bronco Nation waits patiently for the emergence of Richardson as a viable weapon on our offense. Update: Patience pays off.

Back to Jack, who redshirted his first year with Cal. After his sideline foray, he played in only the spring game, having in 2 receptions for 15 yards in their spring game. Listed as the #3 Z receiver, he never saw the field. But, it is still early for Jack. He will see the field. It’s tough to get in there with receivers like Bryce Treggs, Chris Harper and Maurice Harris. This season, he is listed as the #3 X receiver behind  Harper and Trevor Davis. As a RS Sophomore, he still has some time to develop and break through the depth chart. His flip counterpart, Richardson, will be beginning his RS Freshman campaign after greyshirting and redshirting the last two seasons.

Would he have been on the two deep here? We don’t know. But it will certainly be interesting to see what happens at Cal.