Like Bo Jackson, Bastrop's Austin Moilan 'knows football'
By Jim Irish
Photo by Jim Irish, Bella Rice, courtesy photo
On the football field, Bastrop High School linebacker Austin Moilan relentlessly pursues opponents with a take-no-prisoners approach.
The Bears have won five consecutive games and open the Class 5A Division II playoffs against Victoria West (6-4) at Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Off the field, Moilan’s a mild-mannered academic, ranked 17th out of about 400 seniors in the Class of 2027 with a weighted 4.5 grade point index. He has also verbally committed to play football at Ivy League university Princeton.
Moilan started competitive football in the second grade with the Bastrop Youth Football Organization and fell in love with it. Later, he dabbled with basketball, track and field, and soccer. Football, however, remained at the top of the list.
He was a scrawny 165 pounds as a defensive end and tight end on the freshman football team. Today, he is a massive 6-foot-2 ½ , 225-pound defensive monster.
What accounts for this remarkable metamorphosis?
No, not steroids. The answer is the consumption of thousands of calories a day and untold hours in the weight room. His numbers are: 405 pounds in the bench press, 500 in the dead lift, 455 in the squat, and 325 in the power clean.
Bastrop’s Rob Phillips has been a strength and conditioning coach for 31 years with stops at the University of Tennessee, Miami, and Tulane along with five years in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns. The average body fat percentage for an American male is 28%; Phillips estimated Moilan’s at 9%.
“He is second to none,” Phillips said about Moilan. “His weight room numbers are in the top 1% of all high school players. For the last four years, he has consistently outworked everyone in the room.”
"He is second to none. His weight room numbers are in the top 1% of all high school players."
-- Bastrop strength and conditioning coach Rob Phillips about Moilan
Moilan ranks second on the defense with 38 tackles only because he missed 1 ½ games with a shoulder injury. In three district games, he averaged just 10 plays because of vastly weaker opponents. He is not only strong but quick as his 4.79 in the 40-yard dash attests.
Against Belton, Moilan fell wrong on his left shoulder and tore his labrum at the back of his shoulder. He currently wears a brace and said he feels no pain. He may require surgery in the offseason.
“It’s something you can play through,” said Moilan, who suffered a fractured left elbow last season and missed two games. “The brace adds security. I feel perfectly fine right now.”
Bret Page, first-year defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, said linebackers have to have an instinct for the ball and an understanding of how the game works.
“As soon as every play starts – right in front of you – five, six, seven guys are moving in different directions,” Page said. “You have to sort through all that. Some kids can do that; some have a lot of trouble. We have to work with them on that.”
Moilan falls in the first category.
“He has a good understanding of the game,” Page said. “He does a really good job of being a field general for us. He has a good understanding of what’s around him and communicates that to the front so we’re all on the same page.”
Moilan attracted collegiate attention as a sophomore, receiving an offer from Arizona State University from which both parents are alumni.
“If a high school coach is looking at our defense, he’s going to immediately identify (Moilan) on film,” Page said. “We gotta have a plan for him. He exudes presence.”
"If a high school coach is looking at our defense, he's going to immediately identify (Moilan) on film."
-- Bastrop defensive coordinator Bret Page
Moilan has received 12 collegiate offers to date, including Columbia, Pennsylvania, Yale, Dartmouth, and Cornell. He visited each one, but his only official visit was Princeton. Ivy League schools do not offer athletic scholarships but need-based financial aid.
“That solidified it for me,” Moilan said. “It was the community they had there and the linebacker coach. (Mike Weick) is the main reason. He knows what he’s talking about. He can build me to the person I want to be.”
Princeton offers both the athletic and academic package for Moilan.
“The way Princeton sets up my life outside of football enticed me,” Moilan said. “I’m going there to play DI football, but when the football career is over, I’ll have an Ivy League degree to do something in the world.”
Moilan is looking beyond collegiate athletics to the professional ranks.
“It’s always been a dream of mine,” he said. “I’m working towards that every day.”
Jim Irish is a freelance writer in Bastrop, Texas
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