When he looks back on it now, Steelers rookie Calvin Austin III can hardly believe how his father helped him get to this point.
A fourth-round draft pick this year out of Memphis, where he started out as a walk-on and finished up as a two-time 1,000-yard receiver, Austin III isn’t your typical NFL wideout. At 5-foot-8, 170-some pounds, it took something special for him to be here. But it’s not just his speed and quickness, not just his leaping ability, not just his pass-catching skill. It’s the upbringing that goes beyond his physical stature and natural athleticism.
When the Steelers head to training camp next month at Saint Vincent College, the diminutive Austin III figures to be one of the most exciting players to watch. He wants new fans to know how much of his story runs through his dad, Calvin Austin II, a longtime Memphis police officer who never let his job get in the way of fatherhood.
“The way that he just pushed us, never took it light on us, never gave us an out, never felt sorry for us — but always showed how he cared and loved — it’d kind of be disrespectful when you’re out there to not give your best,” said Austin III, who has four sisters. “Because he did so much. When you’re younger, you don’t really understand the amount of sacrifices that it takes.”
The elder Austin is going on his 26th year on the force and is now a sergeant, but for the first 18, he worked the midnight shift. That was partially his choice because he wanted to be there during the day for his children, including his only son.
Austin II coached Calvin — his family calls him “BayBay” — in every sport he played growing up. That included football, basketball and especially track, which would’ve been Calvin’s ticket to a scholarship at Memphis, his father’s alma mater, if not for his desire to stay on the gridiron. Instead, he opted to walk on to the football team, but his dad instilled in him at a young age that pursuing your dreams won’t always be easy.
“I didn’t get a lot of sleep, but it was just so exciting for me to have children and raise them in the way God wants them to be raised,” Austin II said with a laugh, also crediting Calvin’s mom, Mimi. “I was blessed enough that my kids didn’t go to daycare or anything like that because I would be there with them. My wife would breastfeed, leave the milk at home, I would sleep when they sleep, wake up and change them, everything.”
In Calvin’s case, that dedication continued into his teenage years once it became clear how much talent he had on the football field. Then again, Austin II could see early on that his boy was different than a lot of kids — and his cousins.
Austin II is one of 11, and he’s the baby, so his “BayBay” grew up with plenty of older cousins. Calvin was the youngest of all the nephews, but his dad remembers a family flag football game when he was only 5 years old, and he earned himself another nickname: “Cutback.”
The pick-up game began with somebody throwing the ball deep for a makeshift kickoff. Austin II figured they’d let little Calvin field it, so he told his son to run with the ball, stay behind, and the other guys would block for him.
“We look back, and he didn’t stay behind us,” Austin II chuckled. “He ran to the other side of the field and outran his older cousins for a touchdown. We’re like, ‘Calvin, what happened?’ He said, ‘I was running, and I didn’t see anyone over there, so I ran.’ It was right then that we were like, ‘This is not normal.’ And his older cousins were saying how fast he was. They were about 10 or 12, and they couldn’t catch him.”
Now, Calvin’s Twitter username is @CantCatchCal. And Steelers coach Mike Tomlin spent OTAs and minicamp telling his undersized but blazing fast rookie that he better not let NFL defenders get their hands on him.
But that day at the park wouldn’t be the last time someone underestimated him. Even Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield, who was an assistant when Calvin joined the program, thinks back to his initial impressions of the player who’d end up doing so much for the Tigers.
“I just remember this scrawny — probably 149 pounds at the time — just this little guy who looked like a little kid,” Silverfield said. “He sat in the back of the team room, and I was just like, ‘What is this? This is not a good fit here.’”
But Calvin was a local kid who played his high school ball five minutes down the road, so folks in Memphis raved about his speed. Silverfield watched as he went from afterthought to first-team all-conference receiver three years later as a redshirt junior.
In this era of college sports, of course, agents and bigger schools came sniffing around a standout from the American Athletic Conference. Calvin could’ve turned pro or tried to prove himself at a Power Five program, but Silverfield credits the loyalty of him and his family, who asked the coach for his honest opinion before deciding to stay put for one more season. And he proved his breakout year wasn’t a fluke. The Steelers surely want to see what his shiftiness can do all over the field in Matt Canada’s misdirection-heavy offense.
“He can benefit from doing that stuff, so that’s why I think it’s a unique fit, system-wise, because Matt does do fly sweeps, does do motion,” Silverfield said. “So if you’re still worried about Calvin’s size, I don’t think you need to be because they’ll be able to move him around so much.”
Calvin’s father hasn’t worried about Calvin’s size for as long as he can recall. He’s just always been smaller than most others, but that didn’t deter him from playing varsity cornerback as a freshman at Harding Academy, or from starring at Memphis after one college coach told him he might be better off playing at the Division III level.
Slights like that one got saved by Calvin in his phone, but that particular one made him mad enough to call his dad immediately. With all due respect, that wasn’t what they’d worked for. That wasn’t why Austin II had Calvin doing calf raises, criss-cross squats and push-ups before bed each night.
“He was just always there. I probably don’t even tell him enough how much I appreciate him,” Calvin said as he wrapped up his first few weeks practicing with the Steelers. “Honestly, this is our moment. This is what he wanted for me.”
Calvin joked that his dad might be happier than he is when he plays his first game or catches his first pass. Even during OTAs, Austin II was thrilled to hear about what was happening each day, how his son was practicing, even what was on the menu in the cafeteria.
They won’t be together on Father’s Day because Calvin has to put the finishing touches on this phase of the offseason, but he already sent his dad some gifts. In addition to a bunch of Pittsburgh gear that a former Cowboys fan will wear all around Memphis, Calvin got him an autographed Steelers helmet. No matter what happens in his rookie season or beyond in his NFL career, they’ll always have that as a symbol of how their hard work paid off.
“The memories, what he’s doing now, it just makes me and his mom so proud. Because the way he got overlooked, it would’ve broken a lot of teenagers. But he never let that faze him,” Austin II said. “His faith and his perseverance, I just look back on those days of working midnights and getting off work and going to different camps and track meets and football games, all of that stuff. Now, to see what it has resulted in, him reaching his dream, what more can a parent ask for?”
Brian Batko: bbatko@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrianBatko.
First Published: June 19, 2022, 11:00 a.m.
Updated: June 20, 2022, 11:18 a.m.