Another star football player at Long Beach Poly has announced his college commitment, as senior-to-be Daylen Austin posted on social media Monday that he’s committed to LSU.
Austin is a four-star defensive back ranked among the top 15 players at any position in California in the 2023 class. He also on Tuesday got the news that he will be an All-American as he’s been invited to Under Armour’s All-American Game next year.
Austin cited LSU’s pedigree and success putting players at his position in the NFL as a major reason for making his commitment.
“LSU is DBU,” he said. “They’ve sent the most DBs to the league in the last five years, and that’s my main goal, getting to the NFL.”
Austin had a wealth of colleges to choose from--he’s been getting scholarship offers since his freshman year and has been a national recruit since he was a sophomore. His profile has increased as he’s run track and was the anchor leg on Poly’s top-ranked 4x100 team. Among the universities who’d offered scholarships were Alabama, Penn State, Michigan State, Georgia, and many others. Last month Austin had narrowed his top eight choices down to those schools as well as USC, Nebraska, and Oregon.
He said in addition to watching players like Tyrann Mathieu and Patrick Patterson go from LSU to the league, a visit to the school last month helped to seal the deal.
“I was on Spring Break when I did my visit, so we went on a weekday,” said Austin. “They made sure that I knew I was a No. 1 priority--they made time for me even during practice. My position coach had his parents go to lunch with all of us--he’s a family guy and I’m a family guy. All of that really meant a lot to me.”
Austin is set up to have a great senior season in the Fall, and said he’s glad to have his commitment done in order to stop worrying so much about the machinery of college football recruiting.
“I feel like it takes some stress off of me, and makes things clearer,” he said. “I’m just focused on trying to come back and win another championship my senior year.”
Austin is likely to be featured once again as a shutdown DB as well as a star return man in Poly’s special teams game, and could also line up at receiver as well. That’s something his older brother Alex did at Poly, playing on both sides of the ball before signing with Oregon State, where he’s now a starter.
Twelve players on Poly’s team for the Fall already have scholarship offers, including four committed players. Austin’s commitment to LSU joins quarterback Nico Iamaleava (Tennessee), receiver Jason Robinson (USC), and linebacker Dylan Williams (USC) as players who’ve made their college commitments.
