The irony isn't lost on Blessuan Austin. Had Rutgers' star cornerback not suffered a season-ending injury four games into his junior campaign last fall, there's a strong likelihood that he wouldn't given up his final year of eligibility and declared for the 2018 NFL Draft.
That didn't happen, as Austin opted to return despite giving strong consideration to entering the NFL Draft as he was in the middle stages of his rehabilitation from ACL surgery last winter.
"Honestly I did (consider it),'' Austin told NJ Advance Media. "But I made the decision to come back and it's definitely a decision I do not regret at all.