247 Film Breakdown: Alex Austin
As Oregon State gears up for the early signing period on Wednesday, BeaverBlitz continues to break down the film of the future Beavers who will be signing on Wednesday. Alex Austincomes to Oregon State from Long Beach (Calif) Long Beach Poly, a storied program in Southern California.
Former Oregon State running back Marcus Greaves has been evaluating the film of the latest group of commits. He takes a look at Austin's strengths and weaknesses as we head into signing day.
STRENGTH: I like Austin's attitude and confidence. When playing corner those are both very important traits that every corner should have. If you have the confidence, then you wont play timid or scared.
Austin not only provides some confidence, but I think he is a real ball hawk. While breaking down his film, you can see how quick he can react and drop his hips and break on the ball. I really like his stop and go ability, and think this is why the Beavers were so interested in him because he can make some real big plays when the ball is in the air. Though he isn't the biggest corner, he has great field awareness and athletic ability to make the play on a jump ball. Last but not least I really admire his physicality with bigger receivers. In his film you can clearly tell that the receivers have the size advantage on him, but he is physical off the line with his press and can re-route the receiver which I loved watching.
WEAKNESS: While I admire his attitude and physicality I think he will have a little adjusting to do when he gets to Oregon State. Receivers in the conference are going to be much faster and have much better hands then what he faced in high school. It is going to be extremely tough for him to come in right away and try to be that physical with Pac-12 receivers. If he tries to be that physical off the line, he could potentially be burnt off the line right away if a receiver has a good release.While I gave him props for the physicality re-routing receivers, I think this could also be something that will get him in trouble at times. I would say in high school, receivers running double moves is very uncommon, but at the Division I level it is extremely common and used to expose more physical corners. Austin could possibly be caught on some of these double moves because he is wanting to be so physical with the receiver and could fall into the trap and be exposed with some double moves.
2019 PROJECTION: I think Austin will redshirt, with the corner position being deep with at least five upperclassmen ahead of him, it will be tough for him to find his way to some playing time. I wouldn't say he is ready to play right away, but if he gets a little bulk to him and works on honing his physicality I think he can be a pretty darn good corner. Keep in mind redshirting is not the end of the world and is not a bad way to go when one needs to add size.
