Auston English
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Auston English (born March 10, 1987) plays defensive end for the University of Oklahoma Sooners in the NCAA college football tournament. After minimal appearances in his rookie year and being left out of the active roster the following season as a redshirt, English emerged to become one of Oklahoma's best stopper on defense while helping the Sooners lay claim of the Big 12 Conference championship in 2007. Despite missing some games due to an injury, English still managed to figure well in the national and league rankings in terms of sacks and tackles for loss.
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[edit] Personal Life
Auston is the fourth of Dean and Kelly English's five children. Auston's father, an Olympic weightlifter and Scottish champion for 17 years, supervise his and his older brother Jay's weight training which they do frequently during the summer. Auston grew up in the British Isles and was into several kinds of European sports, including football (soccer) and cricket. When they traveled back to the United States because of his father's work as a Church of Christ pastor, they moved to Gainesville, Florida where he and his brother Jay got into American sports such as baseball and american football.
Since no one really knew how to play soccer around town, Auston was forced to transition to baseball---following his brother Jay---after a year of playing soccer. Jay eventually found his way to football and was wearing jersey #33 as a tailback. Since Auston wasn't old enough to handle the pigskin, he was relegated to fan status, cheering for the Florida. After six years at Gainesville, the church moved the English family to Canadian, Texas but unfortunately, baseball was not a school-sponsored sport at Canadian and Auston had to be contented with playing in the summer league. When he was old enough to play in the gridiron, Jay got him into the sport and he eventually would play the same position as his brother.
In 2003, 16-year old Auston survived a disastrous 104-foot fall down a jagged rock face while climbing in the Rocky Mountains near Pitkin, Colorado. The incident left him with a big gash in his head, a ripped open left arm, and several cuts and abrasions. He was brought to a hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado and surprisingly, considering the fall, his injuries were considered minor. It turned out that he broke three vertebrae, bruised his tailbone and needed about 80 stitches in his scalp, back and left biceps. He was only on the hospital for a night.
Auston majored in planned program at the University of Oklahoma.
[edit] High School
English attended Canadian High School, a class 2A school located about 100 miles northeast of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle, where he was a standout on both track and football (playing both running back and defensive end positions for coach Kyle Lynch). English, who recorded 315-pound bench press and 400-pound squat in high school, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds and was the 100-meter district champion in track at Canadian. Following his accident, English recuperated during the summer and was forced to sit out the season opener of his junior year. During his return, he immediately made an impact by rushing for a 70-yard touchdown right on his first carry. He went on and finished that year tallying 1,800 rushing yards and 25 touchdown runs in addition to 53 tackles and seven sacks on defense while seeing action in four outings. The following year, he rushed for 1,285 yards and 18 touchdowns and recorded 81 tackles (33 solos and 48 assists) and 11 sacks as a senior while leading Canadian to the state semifinals.
A three-year letterman at Canadian, English finished his high school career with several awards and recognitions, including the Amarillo Globe Super Team defensive end honors, while being selected into the 7-AA All District teams in 2003 and 2004 both as a running back and as a defensive end. English, who was listed as the #53 player on the Texas Top 100, was also ranked by Scout.com as the #58 player in the Southwest and the #49 player in Texas while Rivals.com listed him as the #15 weakside linebacker.
[edit] College
Although he admits to be a Gator fan, English did not wait for a Florida offer and quickly committed to Oklahoma when the Sooners gave him his first scholarship offer. He also received offers from Missouri, Penn State, and Oklahoma State, but his mind was fixed to go to OU.
[edit] 2005
In Oklahoma's spring testing, English recorded a 32 ½ -inch vertical jump that tied him for third on the team. As a true freshman, he appeared in three games with spot duties against Kansas State and Texas Tech.
[edit] 2006
With Oklahoma's depth at the defensive end position with the return of seniors C.J. Ah You, Larry Birdine and Calvin Thibodeaux, English was redshirted as a sophomore.
[edit] 2007
After sitting out 2006, English displayed his wares during the spring while alternating with Alonzo Dotson and John Williams. He was eventually named starter a week into two-a-days.
English made his first career start against North Texas, tallying 4 tackles that include a sack for 6 yards loss in the 79-10 drubbing of the Mean Green. English was a force on the defense in the Sooners' ensuing three blow out victories, recording a sack for a 10-yard loss and a season high 2 QB hurries against Miami (Fla.), 4 stops with 1.5 TFLs and a QB hurry against Utah State, and 4 more tackles with 2.5 TFLs and a pair of sacks for a season high 14 yards loss @ Tulsa. In the Sooners' first loss of the season @ Colorado, he was limited to a tackle for a 7 yard loss in the three-point defeat. OU bounced back with a 28-21 triumph over Texas with English turning out one of his best performances of the season where he sacked quarterback Colt McCoy twice for a 7-yard loss, finishing the game with 5 tackles and 1 pass break-up.
Against 11th ranked Missouri, English tallied a career best 9 stops, including a pair for 14 yards loss, 1.5 sacks for 12 yards loss, 2 pass break ups, and a QB hurry as Oklahoma dealt the Tigers its first loss of the season, 41-31. A few days later, English was named into the College Football Halfway All-America Team by CBSSportsline.com after ranking 9th in the nation in sacks per game (1.1) and 11th in TFLs (1.6). English, who was also named into the Ted Hendricks Award watch list, then produced 3 stops and a sack @ Iowa State. During the Texas A&M game, where he tallied 3 tackles and a sack for a 9 yard loss, English suffered a hairline fracture to his right fibula which sidelined him for the rest of the regular season.
English, who was named in late November to the final watch list for the Ted Hendricks Award, returned to the field on the 1st of December for the Big 12 Championship showdown with top-ranked Missouri despite not yet fully recovered. He finished the game with a tackle and a QB hurry in limited minutes as the Sooners handed Mizzou its second loss of the season. He came into the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl nearly in full capacity although he did miss a practice because of flu-like symptoms. He concluded his bowl game debut with a tackle in the 28-48 loss to West Virginia.
He capped his breakout year with the 15th best sacks tally in the nation (9.5) with a team-high 13 tackles for loss while tallying 21 tackles, seven tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks in Big 12 play. He also made it into the coaches' and the Associated Press' All-Big 12 first team while being named into the Sports Ilustrated All-America team as an honorable mention.
[edit] 2008
After an impressive sophomore season, English made it into several preseason award watchlists, including the prestigious Nagurski and Lombardi awards. English spent most of the offseason recuperating from his leg injury.
[edit] Highlights
| Commentaries on Auston English after suffering an injury in the Texas A&M game (2007). |
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2008
- Athlon Sports Preseason All-Big 12 First Team
- Nagurski Trophy Preseason Watch List
- Phil Steele Preseason All-Big 12 First Team
- Rotary Lombardi Award Preliminary Watch List
[edit] 2007
- All-Big 12 First Team (Coaches)
- Associated Press All-Big 12 First Team
- CBSSportsline.com's College Football Halfway All-American
- CollegeFootballNews.com All-Big 12 Team
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #2 Defensive Lineman in the Big 12
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #15 Player in the Big 12
- Phil Steele All-Big 12 First Team
- Rivals.com All-Big 12 First Team
- Sports Ilustrated All-America honorable mention
- Ted Hendricks Award Watch List
