Austin Fort (born May 14, 1995) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

who is currently a free agent. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

Early years

Fort attended Campbell County High School in Gillette, Wyoming, where he played quarterback, punter, and placekicker. In his two-year career starting at quarterback for the Campbell County Camels, he totaled 4,667 yards with 45 touchdowns on only 4 interceptions and helped lead his team to the Wyoming 4A state championship in 2012. Fort was considered a first-team all-state selection at quarterback and kicker as both a junior and senior, was named the top football recruit in Wyoming as a senior, and was a Top 25 Rocky Mountain state selection. A 2-star recruit, Austin chose to stay in-state and played at

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

over offers from

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, and

Sam Houston State Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

College career

In 2014, Fort redshirted as a freshman at the University of Wyoming. The following spring, Fort was transitioned from quarterback to tight end. This decision prompted Fort to transfer to Chabot Community College to continue playing quarterback. In his one season at Chabot, Fort appeared in eight games, throwing for 282 yards on 20 pass attempts, with three touchdowns and one interception. Fort returned to Wyoming for the 2016 season as a tight end. He appeared in all of the team's 13 games, exclusively on special teams, where he recorded two tackles. In the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Fort started at tight end for the Cowboys and caught 17 passes for 229 yards and four touchdowns.

Professional career

Denver Broncos

After going undrafted in the 2019 draft, Austin Fort was invited to participate at the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

training camp. Fort impressed the Broncos and he was signed to the team following training camp. He caught 87 yards and a touchdown in the preseason game against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

, but tore his ACL after catching a 29-yard dive pass and landing on his knee. Fort was placed on injury reserve on August 9, 2019. On July 29, 2020, Austin Fort was promoted to the active roster. However, Fort agitated his previous knee injury during practice and was placed on injured reserve on August 14, 2020. On August 31, 2021, Fort was waived by the Broncos.

Tennessee Titans

On September 14, 2021, Fort was signed to the Tennessee Titans practice squad. After the Titans were eliminated in the Divisional Round of the 2021 playoffs, he signed a reserve/future contract on January 24, 2022. He was waived on May 2.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort, Austin Living people 1995 births Players of American football from Wyoming American football tight ends Denver Broncos players Tennessee Titans players