Austin Fort (born May 14, 1995) is an American former 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 ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

. 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 ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Early life

Fort attended Campbell County High School in Gillette, Wyoming, where he played quarterback, punter, and placekicker. In his two-year career starting at quarterback for the Campbell County Camels, he totaled 4,667 yards with 45 touchdowns on only 4 interceptions and helped lead his team to the Wyoming 4A state championship in 2012. Fort was considered a first-team all-state selection at quarterback and kicker as both a junior and senior, was named the top football recruit in Wyoming as a senior, and was a Top 25 Rocky Mountain state selection. A 2-star recruit, Austin chose to stay in-state and played at

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...

over offers from

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. It was founded in 1870 as Colorado Agr ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, and

Sam Houston State Sam Houston State University (Sam Houston, SHSU or Sam) is a public research university in Huntsville, Texas, United States. Founded in 1879, it is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools wes ...

College career

In 2014, Fort redshirted as a freshman at the University of Wyoming. The following spring, Fort was transitioned from quarterback to tight end. This decision prompted Fort to transfer to Chabot Community College to continue playing quarterback. In his one season at Chabot, Fort appeared in eight games, throwing for 282 yards on 20 pass attempts, with three touchdowns and one interception. Fort returned to Wyoming for the 2016 season as a tight end. He appeared in all of the team's 13 games, exclusively on special teams, where he recorded two tackles. In the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Fort started at tight end for the Cowboys and caught 17 passes for 229 yards and four touchdowns.

Professional career

Denver Broncos

After going undrafted in the 2019 draft, Austin Fort was invited to participate at the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

training camp. Fort impressed the Broncos and he was signed to the team following training camp. He caught 87 yards and a touchdown in the preseason game against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

, but tore his ACL after catching a 29-yard dive pass and landing on his knee. Fort was placed on injury reserve on August 9, 2019. On July 29, 2020, Austin Fort was promoted to the active roster. However, Fort agitated his previous knee injury during practice and was placed on injured reserve on August 14, 2020. On August 31, 2021, Fort was waived by the Broncos.

Tennessee Titans

On September 14, 2021, Fort was signed to the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

practice squad. After the Titans were eliminated in the Divisional Round of the 2021 playoffs, he signed a reserve/future contract on January 24, 2022. He was waived on May 2.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort, Austin Living people 1995 births Players of American football from Wyoming American football tight ends Denver Broncos players Tennessee Titans players People from Gillette, Wyoming