Austin adds to résumé with another stellar year

BY DOMINCK RINELLI JR.
Correspondent

MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS Miles Austin with the ball in his hands has been an all-too-familiar sight for Monmouth University’s opponents over the last four years. WEST LONG BRANCH — Monmouth University’s football team has enjoyed quite a bit of success over the last four years, and much of that success can be attributed to Miles Austin.

Austin, a senior wide receiver who has established himself as one of the premier offensive players in the Northeast Conference, is the type of player coaches dream about — an unselfish star whose work ethic is matched only by his will to win.

This past Saturday, No. 80 stepped onto Kessler Field in his 39th game for the Monmouth team (4-2), when his Hawks suffered a disappointing 26-20 loss against NEC opponent Wagner College.

Austin was coming off a record-setting performance in the team’s previous NEC victory against Sacred Heart (45-14), where he caught 10 balls for 235 yards and four touchdowns. He followed that performance up against Wagner by catching six passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns.

His performance against Sacred Heart earned him the honor of being the first Monmouth player to be named the National I-AA Offensive Player of the Week by The Sports Network.

But while Austin appreciates the honor, he stresses that personal accolades are not what motivates him.

“It’s a great feeling as long as I’m out there helping our team win,” said Austin. “Whether it’s blocking or receiving, it doesn’t really matter to me, I’m just happy that we’re winning.”

In the team’s six games thus far in 2005, Austin has tallied 45 receptions, 924 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Obviously, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound speedster is a favorite target of quarterback Brian Boland.

“He’s the most talented receiver I’ve ever been around. He’s by far the best receiver in this conference,” said Boland.

The two-time First Team All-Northeast Conference member has helped lead the squad to a 26-13 overall record with a 16-8 mark in conference play in his four years.

“We’ve won an awful lot of games since Miles has been playing with us,” said head coach Kevin Callahan. “It’s not just catches or statistics or production on offense, it’s him helping us win games.”

He was also an intricate part of the Hawks’ offense in becoming back-to-back NEC co-champions in 2003 and 2004, and is the player opposing teams focus on when they game-plan for defending Monmouth.

“Because of what Miles has been able to do, he’s going to draw the attention of other defenses, and you hope that that gives you something else, or if they’re really overplaying him, it can open some other things up,” said Callahan. “It’s really helped our explosiveness on offense and gives us the ability to do a lot of different things.”

Records are meant to be broken

Austin is not unfamiliar to rewriting the record books of Monmouth and the NEC.

In the Hawks’ victory against Sacred Heart, the receiver broke two of his own school records — receiving yards in a single game (235) and touchdown receptions (4).

“Half the time, I don’t even know there is a record to be broken,” said Austin. “Breaking records isn’t really the thing I’m really going for; I’m just going out to help our team win.”

The receiver moved into first place in NEC and Monmouth history with 2,787 career receiving yards. Jason Bain of Wagner held the old record with 2,294 yards in NEC history, while William Holder held the mark for Monmouth with 2,172 yards.

Austin is now only 76 yards away from becoming only the third player in NEC history to eclipse the 1,000-yard plateau in a single season, and is one catch away from moving up to second all-time in the NEC in receptions.

Number 80 is also the leader in Hawks’ history in TD receptions in a career with 33, TDs in a season with 12 and most 100-yard receiving games in a season (5).

In Division I-AA statistics, he is first in receiving yards per game with 154.00, first in scoring at 12 points-per-game, first in total receiving yards with 924, fourth in all-purpose yards-per-game with 170.50, and fifth in receptions-per-game with 45.

But the receiver doesn’t have statistics or records on his mind while competing — it’s all about winning.

“Toward the end of the game I might say to myself, ‘Wow, I had a good day today.’ I don’t really think about it that much until the day is over and I get pretty excited,” said Austin.

Garfield connection

Austin, a 2002 graduate of Garfield High School, earned All-Bergen County and All-State Group II honors as a senior after logging 75 tackles and 10 interceptions despite not playing football until his junior year.

Before playing Friday Night football, Austin was a basketball and track athlete at Garfield, where he was named to the second-team All-Bergen County squad and totaled 1,028 points during his career on the court, and holds the second longest javelin throw in Bergen County history.

Austin has hopes of one day suiting up in the National Football League. At Garfield, Austin played alongside defensive lineman Luis Castillo, a first-round selection of the San Diego Chargers in the 2005 NFL Draft. The two maintain a relationship. “We talk pretty often,” Austin said. “He gives me some advice and confidence and tells me to keep working. I just try as hard as I can every day, and hopefully everything works out for the best.”

Castillo is not the only product of Garfield to play in NFL. Current New York Jet wide receiver Wayne Chrebet played his high school ball for the Boilermakers and signed with Gang Green as a nondrafted free agent in 1995 after playing at Hofstra University.

Like Austin, Chrebet holds four of the same records in Hofstra football history. The two are first in their respective school’s record books for touchdowns in a game, season, career, and single-game receiving yards.

Behind the numbers

Sometimes players have a special meaning behind their decision to wear a particular number on their jerseys.

Wearing 80 for the Blue and White has somewhat of a strange twist to it for Austin.

At Garfield, Austin was able to wear 80 for home games, but for away games he sported No. 7.

“They [Garfield] didn’t have two jerseys [home and away] with the same number. But I just stuck with 80 and got it here [Monmouth],” he said.

A look ahead

Monmouth, now 4-2 overall on the season and in a five-way tie for first place in the NEC with a 2-1 mark, will host Pittsburgh’s Robert Morris at home this Saturday in a conference game with the kickoff at 1 p.m. Robert Morris leads the series with a 6-4 all-time record against Monmouth. In their last meeting Sept. 18, 2004, the Hawks defeated the Colonials 29-27 on a 32-yard Tim Hiltwine reception as time expired.