PI EXCLUSIVE: The Austin Berrios Story

This past Friday, news broke that Louisburg Wide Receiver Austin Berrios (5’10″/180) would be transferring to NC State.  Last season in Junior College, he had 24 receptions for 341 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Berrios has been on quite the journey, and the fact that he is still playing college football is nothing short of an impressive story of perseverance.  This weekend we had the chance to speak with Austin, and wanted to give him a chance to share the whole story.

“I went to Leesville Rd. High School.  On Senior night I tore my ACL.  I then got connected with ECU, and went and walked-on there and got healthy as I redshirted my freshman season.  That following Spring, I was doing well, getting back to where I was before, and I tore my other ACL.  Last April, both knees were healthy, and I went through three days of Spring ball, and it didn’t seem like the right place for me,” Berrios said. “ECU is a great school and great people, but I could tell it wasn’t me.  So I quit and began looking for other places. I realized that I couldn’t transfer to any Division-1 school where I wouldn’t have to sit out a year.  I found Louisburg College, which is a Junior College 45 minutes from my home in Raleigh.  I played there last season and did pretty well.”

Berrios’ high school coach had connections with one of the NC State coaches and was able to help him go through the process of transferring to NC State. After all of the setbacks and hard work, Berrios truly believes his best days are ahead of him.

“I’m at a point now where I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been.  In high school I was in pretty good shape, but I’m in much better shape now,” said Berrios. “I’m just going to go in there and work, which is what I’ve always done.  I’m going to trust my leg and my body, and see how it goes.”

Berrios doesn’t come in completely unknown.  NC State’s Wide Receivers Coach George MacDonald is familiar with Austin, because he recruited his brother Braxton Berrios while he was coaching at Miami.  He starts summer classes on June 26th and has two years of eligibility remaining.