Pat McAfee Show Talks the Greatness of WVU Football Legend Tavon Austin

One former Mountaineer pays respect to another.

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

It's hard to believe that it's been over a decade since Geno Smith, Tavon Austin, and Stedman Bailey were cooking up defenses left and right in the Big East and Big 12, dropping tons of yardage and points weekly to form one of the nation's best offenses.

On Tuesday, Tavon Austin called it a career, officially announcing his retirement from the NFL.For the past 24 hours or so, it seems like every football fan in every corner of the world has paid their respect to the legendary Mountaineer in some way, shape, or form. Fellow former Mountaineer, Pat McAfee, and his crew on ESPN were included among that group talking about the legacy that Austin left behind.

Pat McAfee:

“Tavon at West Virginia was a superstar. He was one of those guys that kids looked up to watching his highlight tapes coming out of high school, college. He was just so fast, so quick. Obviously he was small, but he got drafted top 10. He was different.”

Darius Butler

“I think everybody in football has said thanks to him for all the highlights he provided. You put his top ten (plays) against anybody. Congrats on a hell of a football run, Tavon. Noel Devine was obviously at West Virginia before, Jock Sanders was there before Tavon got there, and then Tavon obviously just continued the trend of being a little bit undersized, but better football than you.”

AJ Hawk

“It’s like watching old school And1 mixtapes when you see his highlights of what he can do and how he makes other defenders look. This guy was absolutely scary every time he touches the ball.”

.@patmcafeeshow and the boys had to give "West Virginia SUPERSTAR" Tavon Austin his praise after his retirement announcement 👏 pic.twitter.com/c5eW63N7u7

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) August 14, 2024

During his time at West Virginia, Austin logged 244 receptions for 2,239 receiving yards an 16 touchdowns while also rushing for 1,361 yards and 10 touchdowns. To this day, he has the most-watched highlight reel of any football player on YouTube, a video that was produced by Doug Cross aka "DougityDog" that now has 24 million views.

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