Austin Kafentzis (born April 10, 1996) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

who is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. 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 ...

with the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the Big 12 C ...

High school

As a Freshman at Jordan High School in

Sandy, Utah Sandy is a city in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, located in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. The population was 96,904 according to the 2020 United States census. Sandy is home to the Shops at South Town shopping mall; the Jord ...

, he led the Jordan Beetdiggers to the 5A state semifinals, where he broke his collarbone. He threw for 3,199 yards on the season, ran for 1,377 yards and was responsible for 45 touchdowns that season. His total offensive yardage placed him at fifth all-time in Utah state history. Kafentzis and his teammates were invited to ESPN's 7-on-7 tournament, an honor no other Utah school had ever accomplished. As a freshman Kafentzis was a first-team all-state player and was named the MaxPreps High School Freshman of the Year.

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

named him as a "Future Game Changer." As a sophomore Kafentzis led the Beetdiggers to a 5A state title with 3,018 yards passing and 32 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,884 yards and 26 touchdowns. Kafentzis was named the MaxPreps National Sophomore of the Year and the 2012 and 2014 Utah Gatorade Player of the Year. Kafentzis is the only four-time 1st team unanimous all-state selection at any position in the history of Utah high school football. There have been two three time 1st team selections in the history of Utah high school football. In addition to his football accomplishments, Kafentzis also holds the Utah Class 5A records for the Javelin throw (217' 9 1/2"), breaking the previous records as a high school freshman. Kafentzis is also a three-time state champ in the javelin (freshman, sophomore, and junior, did not compete as a senior to enroll early at Wisconsin for football).

High School stats

Recruiting

At the conclusion of his Freshman season Kafentzis was offered a scholarship to play for BYU. By the end of his sophomore season he held offers from BYU, Utah State,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

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, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. He gave a verbal commitment to play football at Wisconsin on June 18, 2013.

Collegiate career

Kafentzis graduated early from Jordan and enrolled in the spring semester at University of Wisconsin in January 2015. However, following spring training Kafenzis announced he would be transferring from the university. On June 10 it was announced that Kafentzis had enrolled at the

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded ...

. Due to transfer rules Kafentzis was not eligible to play for the 2015 season, however he will have four years of eligibility remaining.

Records

High school

Kafentzis owns 15 Utah state football records. ;Career records #Total Offense (20,121) #Rushing Yards (6,942) #Rushing Touchdowns (103) #Touchdowns (scored by rushing, receiving and all returns) (118) #Carries (992) #100-yard Games (38) #Passing Yards (13,079) #TD passes (115) #Pass Attempts (1,453) #Pass Completions (821) #TDs Responsible For (218; 103 rush, 115 pass ) #Points Scored in a career (618) #Total yards per game in a season (475.58) #200 yard rushing games in a career (10) #Most consecutive 100 yard rushing games (18) 2013 and 2014 seasons #Wins as a QB (38) ;Single-game records #Total Offense - 694 (10/15/2014 vs. Brighton) #Touchdown Passes - 8 (9/21/12 vs. Copper Hills, tied with Alex Hart) #Single-game TDs responsible for - 10 (4 rush, 6 pass; 10/15/14 vs. Brighton, tied with Adam Boelter and Gene Livingston) #Most TD's in a quarter (5), also national record

References

External links

*
High School player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kafentzis, Austin 1996 births Living people American people of Greek descent Sportspeople of Greek descent Sportspeople from Sandy, Utah Players of American football from Salt Lake County, Utah American football quarterbacks