Presented without comment: ASJ's individual workout with the Jets.

The_Undertaker said:

pat_hm said:

ASJ was lethargic and content under the supervision of Sark which will likely lead to a rude awakening at the next level. He doesn't know what it takes to be an elite TE because he didn't have the motivation from within and from his coaches at UW. He always looked pudgy & soft and quite frankly played that way too. He was never properly conditioned because he tended to lean on his natural ability instead of pushing himself to the next level, hence being 20 lbs overweight. You don't excel in the NFL with the habits he developed at UW.

In my eyes he never lived up to the hype that surrounded him when he committed to Washington.
There is a reason why two years ago Rob Rang said he would be a top-10 pick and now he's being projected into the 2nd and 3rd rounds, even after winning the Mackey Award this year. Reality has caught up to Austin. The DUI didn't help his stock either although I think he's done a good job moving on from that chapter of his life. Frankly, he never reached his true potential under the favoritism and coddling of Sark's tutelage.

His game speed feels more like 4.8 than 4.56. With that being said he does have an incredible catch radius that you can't teach and if he falls into the right situation I could see him making an impact. Talent has never been the problem; its a lack of motivation. He's still a Dawg and I'm going to be rooting for him in the NFL just like I do all Huskies who get the opportunity to play professional football. Who knows he might get lucky and have a real coach to guide him throughout his career.

However, if he had made the smart choice and converted to LT his freshman year, given his skill set we would likely be talking about him in the same breath as Robinson & Matthews, both consensus top10 picks in the upcoming draft. Instead, he stuck with TE and his draft stock has tilted downward along with his future salary earning potential. That ship has sailed.

Good poast but I disagree with the LT paragraph. He is already a lazy blocker lacking strength for his size at TE, I don't think he would have had the mentality required to be a lineman.

Thanks man. I'm not necessarily arguing that he would have been an elite level LT. This conjecture is simply based on the fact that he was 6-7 260lbs enrolling early at UW. He could have been molded in to a number of different positions. Basketball background, good footwork, long arms, intelligent and cerebral mindset etc etc. Gaining weight was never a weakness for ASJ. I'm sure the fact that LT's aren't glorified the same way as a pass catching TE threat might have had something to do with the ultimate decision to stay at TE. Who knows, he could have really taken a liking to the position and developed a nasty streak that all the good ones have. None of us will ever know. Or he could have been a bust. You could argue the same about him switching to DE. It's simply notional.