NFF National Scholar-Athletes
A four-year starter at quarterback for Ole Miss, Kent Austin established himself as one of the Rebels’ greatest quarterbacks among names like father-son duo College Football Hall of Fame quarterback and NFF Chairman Archie Manning and 2003 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Eli Manning. Austin is second only to Eli in career attempts (981), career completions (566) and consecutive completions (15), and ranks among the Mannings in the top-10 of virtually every passing category in Ole Miss history. He finished his career with 566-of-981 passes completed for 6,184 yards and 31 touchdowns. Austin ranked in the top-10 in the SEC all four years in pass completions, pass attempts, passing yards and passing touchdowns.
In a 45-14 win over Tulane in 1982, he completed 18-of-19 passes to set a school record for single-game pass completion percentage (94.7, minimum 15 attempts), earning him Chevrolet MVP and Southeastern Offensive Player of the Week honors. The recipient of the 1981 Ole Miss Chapter Scholar-Athlete Award, Austin was a four-time Academic All-SEC selection. He was inducted into the Ole Miss Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. He was selected in the 12th round (312th overall) of the 1986 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals and played one season before signing with the Saskatchewan Roughridgers of the CFL.
Earning the starting job in 1989, Austin led the Roughriders to a 43-40 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Grey Cup, winning the MVP trophy for his 474 yards passing in the game. He won a second Grey Cup in 1994 with the British Columbia Lions. One of the top-10 quarterbacks in CFL history, Austin threw for 36,030 career passing yards on 2,709-of- 4,700 and 198 touchdown passes in his 10 CFL seasons with four teams. He is one of only four CFL quarterbacks to pass for more than 6,000 yards in a single season (6,225 in 1992 with Saskatchewan). Austin was a CFL Western All-Star and All-Canadian All-Star in 1990.
In 2003, Austin began his coaching career as the quarterbacks coach of the Ottawa Renegades and was hired as Toronto’s offensive coordinator the following year, helping the team to the 2004 Grey Cup. In 2007, he was hired as the head coach for Saskatchewan, where he was a legend as a player. Austin coached the Saskatchewan Roughriders to the 95th Grey Cup Championship, beating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23–19 to become the first head coach to win a professional football championship for the same team with which he won one as a quarterback. His performance as head coach won him the 2007 Annis Stukus Trophy as CFL Coach of the Year.
In 2008, Austin kept with the trend of returning to places where he excelled as a player, accepting a job as the offensive coordinator at the University of Mississippi. Austin's offense ranked 28th nationally in 2008, scoring 32 points a game, up from 20 points a game in 2007. He helped the Rebels to an 18-8 record and two Cotton Bowl Classic victories. He served as the head coach at Cornell from 2010-12 before taking another CFL head coaching position for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Austin’s Tiger-Cats reached the Grey Cup in two seasons, losing in both appearances.
With over 30 years of playing and coaching experience, Austin became the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Liberty University in 2019.
