CFL
On September 8, 1987, Austin joined the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He made his first CFL start at quarterback when Saskatchewan visited Hamilton on October 11, a game Saskatchewan won. Austin started the last 5 games of the 1987 season.
Throughout the 1988 and 1989 seasons, Austin shared quarterback duties with Tom Burgess. When Austin got injured in the 1989 West Final in Edmonton, Burgess relieved him. With the efforts of both quarterbacks, the 9-9 Roughriders were able to defeat the 16-2 Eskimos. Austin got the start in the Grey Cup game, and helped guide Saskatchewan to its second ever Grey Cup win. He was awarded the game's Offensive Most Valuable Player after leading the Roughriders down the field to kick the game-winning field goal, and throwing for 474 yards, which was the second most yards thrown in a Grey Cup game at the time.
In 1990, Austin became Saskatchewan's undisputed starting quarterback after Burgess was traded to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. That year, Austin threw a 107 yard touchdown pass to Jeff Fairholm against Winnipeg in the Labour Day Classic. Austin led the CFL that year in passing yards (4604), attempts (618), and completions (360). The latter two statistics were second all-time in a single CFL season. He was nominated a CFL West All-Star and CFL League All-Star for the first, and only, time in his career.
In 1991, Austin missed 5 games with injury, but was still able to throw for 4,137 yards and 32 touchdowns. On September 15, 1991, when the Roughriders hosted Edmonton, he set a CFL record for most passing attempts in a regular season game with 65. Also that year, Austin tied Sam Etcheverry's CFL record for most consecutive 300-yard passing games with 9; 4 consecutive of these games were 400-yard games, a CFL record for consecutive 400-yard games.
The 1992 season was statistically his best CFL season. Austin led the CFL in passing yards, attempts, and completions for the second time in his career, and passing touchdowns for the first and only time in his career. He became only the third CFL quarterback (Warren Moon and Doug Flutie) to pass for 5,000 yards in a single season, and the second CFL quarterback (Flutie) to hit 6,000 passing yards in a single season. His 770 attempts were a CFL single season record, and his 459 completions were second in a single season. His 35 touchdown passes were a Roughrider single season record. In the West Semi-Final in Edmonton, Austin threw 32 completions, second most in a playoff game, and 468 yards, third most in a playoff game.
1993, Austin's 7th and final in Saskatchewan, saw him once again throw for over 5,000 yards and over 30 touchdowns. His 715 pass attempts were 3rd most in a single CFL season. On October 31 in Toronto, he tied Dieter Brock's 1981 CFL record for most passing completions in a regular season game with 41. Also in that game, Austin threw for over 500 yards, the second consecutive game in which he threw for that yardage.
In Austin's final two seasons in Saskatchewan, he threw for an eye-popping 11,979 yards. When he left the Roughriders, he was second only to Ron Lancaster in many of the Roughriders all-time passing statistics. The top 11 single game passing yardage totals in team history belonged to Austin. He also finished second in team history to George Reed for career rushing touchdowns (34), many of which were on quarterback sneaks.
Prior to the 1994 season, he was traded to the Ottawa Rough Riders, who then traded him to the B.C. Lions. This season, Austin threw for 4193 yards, making him the first CFL quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in five different seasons, and in five consecutive seasons. He was part of the team's Grey Cup win, starting the game before leaving with injury. Austin was replaced by Danny McManus, who would lead the Lions to a win on a last-second field goal.
Austin was traded to the Toronto Argonauts in 1995. He was the second Ole Miss star to play quarterback for Toronto, the first being Eagle Day in 1967. Austin joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1996, playing only one season with the team before being released on February 11, 1997.
When Austin's 10 year career as a CFL quarterback was complete, he ranked in the top 10 in numerous CFL all-time regular season passing statistics:
- 3rd in attempts (4,700)
- 4th in completions (2,709)
- 4th in yards (36,030)
- 7th in touchdowns (198)
- 3rd in 300-yard games (48)
- 2nd in 400-yard games (19)
In the Columbo episode "A Bird in the Hand..." (air date November 22, 1992), footage from a Saskatchewan Roughriders versus Edmonton Eskimos game was used to portray a fictional game played by a football team called "The Stallions". As the footage showed Kent Austin playing and wearing the No. 5 jersey, the actor playing the quarterback wore a jersey bearing that number throughout the television episode. When a scene required seeing the quarterback in play, they used footage of Kent Austin.
In 1999, Austin was inducted into the Saskatchewan Roughriders Plaza of Honour. [2]
