Miles Austin article

Coach Callahan sent me this story which was sent to him..am not sure of its origination..thought you would all enjoy reading it...





Todd Archer: Austin lands on NFL's biggest stage



IRVING - The first NFL regular-season game Miles Austin ever attended
came
last year when his high school buddy, Luis Castillo, a first-round pick
of
San Diego last year, got him tickets to see the Chargers play the New
York
Jets.
The second game he attended was last week at Texas Stadium.
He was playing in it.
Austin made three special teams tackles in his NFL debut. He is still
waiting for his first catch, but just to get to this point is an
accomplishment.
He did not play high school football until five games into his junior
year
at Garfield (N.J.) High School. He was more of a track athlete and
basketball player (he scored 1,028 points in his career).
And then he attended Monmouth, hardly a training ground for NFL
wannabes.
"I'm the first," Austin said.
Even when coach Bill Parcells told him he would play against Houston,
Austin
was cautious.
"I called my parents and told them I might be playing," Austin said.
"You
never know what's going to happen, so I didn't want to tell them and
then if
I ended up not playing I'd feel bad for them."
So on the opening kickoff, in front of a sellout Texas Stadium crowd,
much,
much larger than anything he played in front of at Monmouth, Austin does
not
really remember running down the field as much as flying.
"I was just thinking, 'Get down there as fast as I can and hit the
wedge,' "
Austin said. "That's it."
Making the final roster was somewhat of a surprise, considering Austin's

lack of work in the preseason. He caught just one pass but it was good
for a
48-yard touchdown against the Saints in front of a national television
audience.
"I'm going to tell you, you are going to hear about this guy now,"
Parcells
told the Giants' media on Wednesday.
Parcells has a soft spot for all things New Jersey. He especially has a
soft
spot for undrafted receivers from Garfield. Wayne Chrebet became one of
Parcells favorites when he coached the New York Jets. As he likes to
say, he
knew Chrebet would be with him on Sunday.
He is starting to figure some things out about Austin.
"Well, he is just big and fast but I didn't know how tough he was,"
Parcells
said. "He can catch very well. He is going to play Monday night. He
played
the other night. He is just so green; he's just young and he's green. He

doesn't quite know what he is doing. But he has tremendous, tremendous
physical potential. This guy has ability, now. I'm telling you, he's got
it.
I don't think I could miss that. But he just doesn't know quite what he
is
doing yet. That's all. He's just inexperienced."
Growing up not far from Giants Stadium, Austin never really considered
himself a football fan. His favorite team was the Raiders because that
was
his father's favorite. When he was younger, he followed the Giants more,
but
once Chrebet made it to the Jets, "everybody became a Jets fan."
Maybe some people back home will be conflicted. Austin won't be. He'll
be
bouncing up and down just before the kickoff, hoping to hit the wedge.
"You finally get to help the team out on Sunday, that's great," Austin
said.
"I would always help during the team with the scout team and in
practice,
but it feels better to help when the game really counts."















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