Calvin Austin III (born March 24, 1999) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

and

punt returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punt (gridiron football), punts and kickoff (gridiron football), kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusivel ...

for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Memphis Tigers The Memphis Tigers are the athletic teams that represent the University of Memphis, located in Memphis, Tennessee. The teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic C ...

Early life

Austin was born March 24, 1999, grew up in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, and attended Harding Academy. His family consists of his father, Calvin Austin II, and mother, Mimi Austin, and his four sisters: Cami Bea, Claudia-Ruthie, Naomi Pearl, and Bella Rose.

College career

Austin

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his true freshman season at Memphis after joining the team as a walk-on. During his redshirt sophomore season, he was awarded a scholarship and finished the year with 17 receptions for 315 yards and three touchdowns. As a redshirt junior, Austin caught 61 passes for 1,053 yards and 11 touchdowns and was named first-team All-

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

(AAC). He repeated as a first-team All-AAC selection after finishing his redshirt senior season with 74 receptions for 1149 yards and eight touchdowns. After the conclusion of his college career, Austin was invited to play in the

2022 Senior Bowl The 2022 Senior Bowl was a college football all-star game played on February 5, 2022, at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game featured prospects for the 2022 NFL Draft, 2022 draft of the professional National Football League (NFL) ...

. Austin also ran track at Memphis and was named a second-team All-American in 2019.

College statistics

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

2022

Austin was selected by the

in the fourth round, 138th overall, of the

2022 NFL draft The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual NFL draft, draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round ...

. He was placed on injured reserve on September 1, 2022 due to a foot injury. After Austin aggravated his injury, the Steelers let his return window pass and he was placed on season–ending injured reserve on October 26, 2022. He did not play a down during the regular season, which ended with the Steelers achieving a 9–8 record, denying Austin a playoff appearance.

2023

The Steelers promoted Austin to the 53-man roster for the 2023 season. In week 3 of the season against the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West ...

, Austin caught his first NFL touchdown on a 72-yard deep pass from quarterback

Kenny Pickett Kenneth Shane Pickett (born June 6, 1998) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers football, Pittsbu ...

in a 23–18 Steelers victory. In week 16 against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

, Austin scored his first rushing touchdown on a 7-yard run as the Steelers won 34–11. He finished his first full season with 17 receptions for 180 yards and one receiving touchdown to go with one rushing touchdown in 17 games and one start. In his postseason debut, Austin scored a receiving touchdown in the 31–17 loss to the Bills in the Wild Card Round.

2024

Austin, along with running back

Cordarrelle Patterson Cordarrelle Patterson ( ; born March 17, 1991), nicknamed "Flash", is an American professional American football, football running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). As a versatile utility player, he is also ...

, was named one of the team's kick returners ahead of the regular season. On September 22, 2024, Austin recorded a career-high 95 receiving yards against the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

. During the game, Austin caught four passes in total, one being a 55 yard touchdown catch from

Justin Fields Justin Skyler Fields (born March 5, 1999) is an American professional football quarterback for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint with the Georgia Bulldogs, he played college football for the Ohio State B ...

in the fourth quarter. On October 28, 2024, Austin recorded his first career punt return touchdown, a 73-yard return, as well as his first career multi-touchdown game against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

, earning AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Austin finished the 2024 regular season with 36 catches on 58 targets for 548 yards and four touchdowns. Austin and the Steelers achieved a second consecutive postseason berth with a record of 10–7. During the AFC Wild Card playoff matchup with the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

, Austin caught one pass for 25 yards and returned one punt for 14 yards. The Steelers lost the game 28–14, ending their 2024 campaign.

NFL career statistics

{, class= "wikitable" style="text-align:center;" , - ! rowspan="2", Year ! rowspan="2", Team ! colspan="2", Games ! colspan="5", Receiving ! colspan="5", Rushing ! colspan="5", Punt Returns ! colspan="2", Fumbles , - ! GP !! GS !! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD !! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD !! Ret !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD !! Fum !! Lost , - !

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

!! PIT , colspan="19"{{, Did not play due to injury , - !

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

!! PIT , 17 , , 1 , , 17 , , 180 , , 10.6 , , 72T , , 1 , , 11 , , 57 , , 5.2 , , 12 , , 1 , , 29 , , 249 , , 8.6 , , 34 , , 0 , , 2 , , 0 , - !

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

!! PIT , 14 , , 6 , , 28 , , 452 , , 16.1 , , 55T , , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0.0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 23 , , 259 , , 11.3 , , 73T , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , - ! colspan="2"
Career
, 31 , , 7 , , 45 , , 632 , , 14.0 , , 72T , , 2 , , 11 , , 57 , , 5.2 , , 12 , , 1 , , 52 , , 508 , , 9.8 , , 73T , , 1 , , 2 , , 0

Personal life

Austin is the son of Calvin and Mimi Austin. His father went to college at

University of Memphis The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

as well.{{cite web , title=Calvin Austin III – My Journey {{! Behind the Stripes Memphis Athletics , url=https://behindthestripes.gotigersgo.com/calvin-austin-iii-football-my-journey/ , website=Behind The Stripes- University of Memphis Athletics , access-date=12 January 2025

References

{{Reflist

External links

*{{footballstats, espn=4243389, yahoo=34094, pfr=A/AustCa00
Pittsburgh Steelers bioMemphis Tigers bio
{{Pittsburgh Steelers roster navbox {{Steelers2022DraftPicks {{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Calvin American football wide receivers Memphis Tigers football players Players of American football from Memphis, Tennessee Living people Memphis Tigers men's track and field athletes 1999 births Pittsburgh Steelers players