Austin Scott (American football)

Austin Timothy Scott (born March 13, 1985 in) is an American football running back who currently plays for the NEPA Miners semi-pro team in Northeast PA. He was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2008 but was released during the 2008 pre-season.

He played college football at Penn State, before being kicked off the team in October 2007 amid rape allegations from which he was later exonerated.

High school
Scott played his senior season at Allentown's Parkland High School in the highly competitive Lehigh Valley Conference, where he compiled 3,853 yards (fourth highest in national high school football history) and 53 touchdowns, both of which stood as Pennsylvania state rushing records into the 2008 season.

In honor of Scott's accomplishments, the school retired his number, 33, the following year. Scott was selected a Parade All-American and a second-team All-American by USA Today. The Associated Press named him first-team all-state and Big School Player-of-the-Year. Scott received the prestigious Jim Henry Award from the Maxwell Football Club as the Philadelphia-area high school "Player of the Year" and won The Allentown Morning Call's "Player of the Year award."

Collegiate career
Scott played in the 2006 Orange Bowl against ACC Champion Florida State after Tony Hunt was injured in the first quarter. Scott and Michael Robinson helped lead the team to victory. Scott received little playing time in 2005 and 2006 outside of that, mostly being used as a backup running back. In 2007, he was named the starting running back, and displayed a lot of talent and skills, but demonstrated trouble holding onto the football, such as in the game against Buffalo (which led to the Bulls' only points against the Nittany Lions starters) and a key fumble in the red zone against Michigan. Following the Illinois game in October 2007, Scott was accused of rape and was suspended from the team and replaced by Rodney Kinlaw and Evan Royster the remainder of the year.

Rape allegation
In October 2007, while a student and collegiate football player at Penn State, Scott received national attention when he was accused by a woman of rape and was subsequently suspended from the team. Charges were later dropped when Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall admitted there was "no reasonable likelihood the Commonwealth can meet its burden of proof."

Scott filed a lawsuit in October 2009 against the accuser Desiree Minder, Penn State University, several officers of its campus police, and Centre County, Pennsylvania, accusing them of malicious prosecution, false arrest, false imprisonment, illegal seizure, failure to intervene and civil conspiracy. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2011.

Cleveland Browns
Scott was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent following the 2008 NFL Draft. He was waived on August 25 (when the NFL required all rosters to have a maximum of 75 players) during the pre-season after the offensive coordinator said Scott has trouble grasping the offense and lacked a will to achieve. He remains an unsigned free agent.

German Football League
Scott spent 2010 with the Braunschweig Lions of the German Football League (GFL). His team finished the 2010 regular season with a 4-6-2 record before losing 21-31 to the Marburg Mercenaries in the first round of the GFL playoffs. Scott played in every game of the season and carried the ball 233 times for 1502 yards and 11 TDs. He also had 8 catches for 40 yards and returned 8 kicks for 125 yards.

NEPA Miners
On June 23, 2011, it was announced at The Mall at Steamtown that Scott had signed with the semi-pro Northeast Pennsylvania Miners of Major League Football.