'08 ON OL Austin Pasztor (Virginia verbal)

[JohnnyCockfight]

Austin Pasztor
Offensive Line / Tackle

Hometown: Tillsonburg, ON, CAN
School: Fork Union (VA) Fork Union Military Academy

Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 305 lbs
Forty: 5.2 secs
GPA: 3.2

Offers: Virginia, Temple, Youngstown State

Daily Progress, 12/10/07

Virginia’s football program landed its 15th commitment for the Class of 2008 earlier today.

Austin Pasztor, an offensive tackle from Fork Union Military Academy, pondered a scholarship offer from Virginia for less than 24 hours, giving his verbal commitment to Cavaliers’ coach Al Groh this morning.

Times Dispatch, 12/11/07

Pasztor, a senior at Fork Union Military Academy, is from Tillsonburg, a town of about 15,000 in southwestern Ontario. He traveled to FUMA in August with an all-star team from Ontario and distinguished himself in a scrimmage against coach John Shuman's postgraduate squad.

Shuman offered him a spot at Fork Union, and Pasztor, whose goal was to play college football in the United States, accepted.

Pasztor, an excellent student who played hockey before he started high school, turned 17 last month. He knew something about the Cavaliers, having seen them play on ESPN growing up in Canada.

"And of course when I found D'Brickashaw Ferguson went there, that was a big plus," he said yesterday.

Daily Progress, 12/11/07

The 6-foot-6, 305-pounder did not surface in significant fashion on Virginia’s recruiting radar until FUMA postgraduate coach John Shuman delivered game film to the Cavaliers’ coaching staff at the McCue Center.


Pasztor, a native of Ontario, Canada, was asked to visit Virginia this past weekend and received a scholarship offer before the visit concluded Sunday. Boasting previous offers from Temple and Division I-AA Youngstown State, Pasztor jumped at the chance to play a short drive away from where he will accept his high school diploma. Other programs, including Iowa State and North Carolina State, were heightening interest of late.

Roanoke Times, 12/11/07

Offensive lineman Austin Pasztor, one of the top college prospects on a 9-1 Fork Union Military Academy squad, has made a football commitment to Virginia.

Pasztor, a 6-foot-6, 305-pound Canadian, came to Fork Union for his final year of high school but played for the Blue Devils’ postgraduate team. He did not turn 16 until this fall.

Fork Union coach John Shuman has said that Pasztor compares favorably to Anthony Castonzo, an offensive lineman on the 2006 Fork Union team who started as a true freshman this season for Boston College.

Daily Press, 12/12/07

When Austin Pasztor first lined up at left tackle for Fork Union Military Academy, he noticed something odd.

A defensive lineman, inches from his face.

"Up in Canada they put the defense one yard off the ball," Fork Union coach John Shuman said. "They call it nose football or something."

Pasztor, from Tillsonburg, Ontario, found out that's not how it worked in Fluvanna County, on Fork Union's postgraduate team.

"He kept asking, 'Are we gonna play nose on the ball?' " Shuman said. "We said, 'Yeah, we play by our rules.' "