He has potential because he’s physically there & has a knack to make some difficult catches but he’s way too inconsistent w/ the easy ones. At ND and w/ jax he’s dropped some gimmees. I don’t think he has great hands per se, but he does make plays here & there. I know it sounds simple but some guys just aren’t natural catchers, I don’t think he is. Wish him luck & the ND fan in me wishes he would’ve stayed but it is what it is.
The thing for someone like Austin is the need for playing time, for more minutes and more reps. And you become a better player. Maybe you even get drafted higher, and moreover to that you actually make the team, however high or low you're drafted. Because you're a straight-up better player. Older, wiser, more skillful, more experienced, etc...
But the dominant new conventional wisdom, which has been around for a while now, is to go pro at the first available, defensible opportunity. Like that's the smart, shrewd thing to do.... And it's pretty much on the basis of one notion, that you're probably not going to improve your draft status after a certain point, and once you've established that much, then you should definitely go pro immediately. And there's nothing to be gained by staying in college.
Worse than that these know-it-alls also bring up the idea that you if turn pro sooner, you have more earning years in your future that way, instead of wasting them in college. Even though we're talking about guys that might not even make the team as rookies, and the whole thing is over before it ever starts. IMO the far better bet, if you want any kind of NFL career, is to show up for tryouts at your absolute best, giving you optimal chance of actually making the roster, which is seemingly the definitive most important factor.
And having said all that, Kevin Austin should have returned without doubt, and would easily be a poster child for foolishly going pro, and following the herd, when the smart play was definitely to return and get more reps.
