Austin Aune was going to be the next Derek Jeter. Now he’s college football’s extraordinary ‘old man’ QB

[Coach Andy Mac]

Gary Patterson was busy.

After leading TCU to back-to-back top-10 seasons, the head coach was constructing his masterpiece. It featured a 47-7 win at No. 6 Utah. It concluded with a Rose Bowl victory over Big Ten champion Wisconsin. It ended with the Horned Frogs ranked second in the nation, having gone undefeated for the first time in 72 years.

In the midst of the coach’s magnum opus, Austin Aune caught his eye.

The star quarterback at Texas’ Argyle High School — roughly 30 miles north of Fort Worth — committed to the rising program. In June 2012, as an incoming freshman, he moved into Moncrief Hall to begin summer conditioning with the team.

“I had been there a day, and I went through an awful workout where they just ran us in the dirt and I was throwing up everywhere,” Aune recalled. “I was like, ‘College football is gonna be tough.’”

Aune awoke the next morning, ready for Round 2. The next workout began at 10 a.m. Around 9, his phone rang. Brian Cashman waited for him to pick up.

When Aune’s name wasn’t announced in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft, he assumed his future was at TCU. One day later, the Yankees selected the standout shortstop in the second round (89th overall).

The slot money for his draft position was $548,000. The Yankees offered Aune a signing bonus of $1 million.

read more:  https://nypost.com/2022/09/29/how-ex-yankees-prospect-became-college-footballs-oldest-qb/