Walk-on QB leaves Arkansas, reunites with former teammate
Arkansas’ crowded quarterback room will have one less player vying for the starting job when fall camp rolls around next month.
Austin Aune, a former TCU signee who spent six years in the New York Yankees farm system before coming to Arkansas as a walk-on, has left the Razorbacks and been added to North Texas’ roster.
A three-star prospect out of Argyle, Texas, Aune originally signed with the Horned Frogs in 2012. However, he never made it to campus because the Yankees selected him in the second round of the MLB Draft and gave him a $1 million signing bonus, which was nearly double the slot value for the 89th overall pick.
In his six seasons of minor league baseball, the shortstop-turned-outfielder never reached Double-A, hitting just .226 with 20 home runs and 148 RBIs in 387 games.
The Yankees released him last August, prompting him to revive his football career. It is a route similar to the ones taken by former Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden and current Arkansas linebacker D’Vone McClure, as it is common for players going straight to the pros out of high school to include a provision in their contract that the MLB team pay for their college education.
He went through spring practice in Fayetteville, but failed to move up the depth chart. Because he was a walk-on, Aune’s departure doesn’t affect Arkansas’ scholarship situation. He is the second non-scholarship quarterback to leave the team since the end of the semester, joining Carson Proctor. The Florida product is now at Coffeyville (Kan.) C.C.
Jack Lindsey, a third-generation Arkansas player, is the lone remaining walk-on quarterback on the Razorbacks’ roster. Cole Kelley, Ty Storey, Daulton Hyatt, Connor Noland and John Stephen Jones are on scholarship.
The Razorbacks now have two former players on North Texas’ roster. Kicker Cole Hedlund, who struggled to live up to his high school accolades in four seasons at Arkansas, will play for the Mean Green as a graduate transfer this season. Interestingly, Aune and Hedlund attended the same high school, graduating from Argyle two years apart.
Hedlund has a good chance to compete for the starting kicker job, but Aune will likely be competing for a backup role because Mason Fine, the reigning Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year, has two years of eligibility remaining. Aune will be a freshman.
North Texas travels to Fayetteville for a non-conference game against Arkansas on Sept. 15, about a week after Aune turns 25 years old.