PROVO — While some professional football observers say a college player’s age — the younger, the better — plays a factor in his NFL draft prospects, BYU’s Austin Lee begs to differ.
The standout safety says characteristics such as integrity, maturity and knowledge are far more important.
Of course, there’s a good reason for that. Lee just turned 26, having taken two years away from college football to serve a mission to Oklahoma for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lee, who has been married to his wife, Kortnie, for nearly five years, also has two children, son Ledger and daughter Romee.
“Because of a mission, I have been fortunate to learn how to mature faster and organize my life in a way a true professional would,” he said. “I believe I can handle anything thrown at me, at any level of football.”
Lee hopes to hear his name called during the NFL draft this weekend, but if it is not, he still believes a career in the league is in his future. He will gladly sign a free-agent deal to get an opportunity to show what he can do.
“I’ve always been confident in my abilities,” he said.
Ness Mugrabi of DEC Management, who is representing Lee, said that maturity level will serve the former Cougar well in the pros.
“He definitely has a chance to be drafted because he knocked it out of the park on his pro day,” Mugrabi said. “He is obviously a great leader, a great person. … He has spoken to a lot of teams throughout this process and if somebody pulls the trigger and drafts him, they will get a mature guy, a strong character guy.”
Lee’s story is popular among BYU fans because the former Alta High star originally signed with and played for rival Utah. He transferred to BYU for reasons he really doesn’t like getting into, and eventually earned a starting spot in the secondary.
He quickly became a mainstay and teamed with fellow draft hopeful Dayan Ghanwoloku this past season to give the Cougars one of the best safety combinations they’ve had.
Lee worked with former BYU linebacker Jordan Pendleton, who owns Pendleton Performance, to set up a pro day-type situation in Las Vegas and was able to post some eye-popping numbers, most notably a 40-inch high jump and a time of 4.59 seconds in the 40-yard dash. He did 18 reps in the bench press (225 pounds).
“I was really happy with what I was able to do in a short amount of preparation time,” Lee said, having had his training delayed by a lingering hamstring issue that kept him from playing in the Cougars’ final game of the season, the 38-34 loss to Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve.