Austin Jr. A Leader Willing To Work For His Goals
Growing up an only child, Kevin Austin Jr. was raised with the qualities of a leader, so it’s no surprise to see the 2018 Florida wide receiver putting those qualities on display.
“Even though I’m Mom and he’s the kid, we always talk about everything,” Austin’s mother, Andrea says. “As soon as he was old enough to understand, if we had decisions to make, I would say, ‘What are we going to do?’ I think he took on the role of being a decision-maker at a young age.”
Andrea would inquire with her son on everything from what they would eat to where they would go to whatever.
“Maybe in the end, I decide, but I always let him feel like he has 100 percent input into anything we do,” she says.
“He’s taken on that role because we’ve empowered him to feel like he is a leader. He should always want to take on that role because he has those qualities, those leadership qualities. He’s had them since he was much younger.”
Now that he’s older, those qualities are showcased in ways that aren’t seen among most kids his age with Austin often declining social invitations if he has questions about the crowd.
“He’ll decide on his own that those aren’t the kind of people he wants to hang around,” his mother says. “I’m really proud of him for that, that he has those instincts to make those decisions about people. Like I said, he’s a good judge of character and he decides a lot of it without me saying anything.”
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But the most room for growth comes from mistakes and Andrea allowed her son enough latitude to make some along the way.
“Not anything major,” she says. “I’ve let him make small decisions. Nothing that’s going to hurt him or impact him a lot, but something he can learn from and know Mom isn’t trying to be a pain. Mom is trying to teach you how to make the right decision.”
Austin and his mother often travel to New York to visit family for Christmas and he had to learn the hard way about listening to Mom, declining to dawn the proper winter attire.
“He would say, ‘No, I don’t want to wear that,’” Andrea recalls. “So, I would say, ‘OK, you don’t want to wear those gloves? Don’t wear them then.’ Then he goes outside and he says, ‘Oh, I should have worn my gloves.’
“Now he knows, if you want to go hang out in the cold, you have to dress warm.”
Austin was active enough before he even arrived that his mother knew she’d have to get him in sports at a young age.
With no other children in the house, Andrea often found herself doubling as Mom and jungle gym.
“Because he had a lot of energy and I wanted him to interact with other kids his age, the first thing I signed him up for was swimming,” she recalls, noting the need to understand water safety in South Florida.
“After that, I enrolled him in soccer because it’s a team sport and I wanted him to feel part of a team. He did that for about two years.”
Austin played some basketball, but never with an organized team and eventually got to flag football. By the time he was 10 years old, one of his coaches encouraged him to ask his parents if he could play tackle. After checking it out, they signed him up and it was clear immediately he’d found something special.
“The minute he put on the pads and the helmet, you could see the glean in his eye,” his mother says. “You could tell he felt, ‘This is where I belong.’ And that’s what he’s been doing. He hasn’t looked back.
“When I see him cleaning his helmet, cleaning his cleats and getting ready for the next day, that’s what he wants to do. Of all of the sports I tried to introduce him to, that’s the one he really loves.”
And his coaches knew right away they’d found something special too.
“They’d say, ‘Kevin has these skills, natural ability,’” his mother recalls. “It’s nothing they’ve taught him, it’s natural. I’d been hearing that for a couple years.”
Austin has always been a hard-working, goal-orientated young man and that was only magnified when it came to football.
“We talk about what he wants to do on a regular basis,” his mother says. “‘Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In five years?’
“We always have the conversation and I think that helps him stay focused on his goals in life. Whether it’s a year from now or five years from now or 10 years from now, he’s got those goals lined up and it helps him to stay focused. ’What do I need to do to make that happen?’ He works hard in school, takes care of himself physically and works with coaches. He’s always had great relationships with his coaches.”
When he was in middle school, his goal was to get to varsity and make an impact as soon as possible. Mission accomplished.
“He played JV for like two or three games and they moved him up to varsity,” his mother recalls. “He went into high school wanting to go to varsity. He wouldn’t have been happy to be on JV for a year. His goal was to play varsity and within three games, he was playing varsity. The coaches would tell me he’s really good.”
Once that goal was accomplished, he turned his sights to his next goal and it wasn’t long before it became obvious he would indeed have the opportunity to play football at a high level in college because of his natural talent and the work he put in.
“He always wants to work,” his mother says. “He always knew he wanted to play football, so he takes care of himself and keeps himself healthy on his own. He won’t eat certain things and watches what he eats during the season. He’ll go work out with his team and never ever backs down from the workouts the coaches set up for him. I’m not surprised he went ahead and worked hard for what he wanted in football because he’s always been that way. He’s always taken on a challenge and works hard and gets to the point where he wants to get.”
He may not have had a favorite team growing up, but he knew who was playing who and when to be in front of a TV with his parents. Never one to sit around and play video games or such, Austin would always prefer something football-related.
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When the first college scholarship offers came in, Andrea’s response was “‘Wow! I guess other people think he’s good as well.’”
But it didn’t get to Austin’s head, in part because of the way he was raised.
“My parents raised me a certain way and my parents were very strict,” says Andrea, whose family is from Jamaica. “Of course, as a teenager, you’re upset, but now you look back and I feel my parents did a very good job. Education was always important to them. I think I raised Kevin that way, the way my parents raised me, to be very grounded and family-orientated and care for other people.
“I think the fact that he’s very caring, he’s thoughtful, that helps him be grounded. I raised him to be very independent, to think for himself. I just think those are the things that’ll equip him to make the right decision in life.”
The NFL is “of course” one of his goals now, according to his mother, but he’s keeping things in perspective and knows he has to complete his high school career and then college before that’s a true option.
He eventually narrowed a lengthy list of scholarship offers down to four; Notre Dame, Duke, Miami and Tennessee and is set to announce his decision on Friday.
He understands coaches come and go, but after having so many strong male role models growing up, the staff members will play a major role in what school he chooses.
“He’s been lucky to have a really amazing coaching staff at North Broward,” his mother says. “He’s got Coach Rex, Coach Garrish, Coach Mays and Coach Cedeno. They are prime examples of what good coaching is and they’re not just good coaches, they’re good men. I think Kevin is surrounded by that, where he has good coaches, he’s got good men in his life. It helps him to stay focused and well-rounded.”
Academics will also be key, but Austin hasn’t completely decided what he wants to major in. At one point, he was thinking about Engineering, another Kinesiology and another Business.
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“Two years ago, I think he would have said Engineering,” his mother says. “Now that he sees the bigger picture, he’s thinking, ‘What do I need in order for me to move forward in the future?’”
Whatever he decides to do, his mother is confident he’ll make the right decision because he’s made so many good decisions leading up to this point, well except the one to go gloveless in the middle of the winter in New York City.
“I think he’s learned his lesson,” she laughs.
“He’s been such a good kid, making right decisions all along that his father and I feel confident he’s going to make the right decision for him, so when he does, we’ll fall into place and make sure we’re at the games and make sure we’re there to support him.”