Austin Staats' journey to professional lacrosse began in a Spider-Man suit and cowboy boots. It was goofy, sure, but that’s what he preferred to wear to his older brother Randy’s lacrosse practices. Six years younger, Staats trolled the sidelines, sometimes stick in hand and learned the game from a future All-American. 

Together they practiced in the backyard. They’d run breakaway drills with one brother in net and the other barreling toward the cage. Other times they’d play “three posts,” where the brothers would call out which post they’d hit. The first person to correctly call out and ping all three posts won. 

By the time Staats was 12 or 13, Randy knew his younger brother was on a similar path to him. At that point, Randy had established himself as a standout player at Onondaga Community College and would later continue on to an All-American career at Syracuse University. 

Staats’ high school grades didn’t align with Division-I school's requirements, he chose the same route as his brother Randy, cousin Cody Jamieson and other players from Six Nations before them.

 “I was going there to feel out options, try and transfer,” Staats said. 

Former OCC coach Chuck Wilbur always asked his players what their goals were before starting their career at OCC. He wanted to know where they hoped to be after community college. Many players like Randy and Jamieson told Wilbur of their aspirations to travel four miles down the road to Syracuse University and play in the Carrier Dome. 

The younger Staats brother was different. 

“Well I don't want to let my mom down and I promised her I'd go to school,” Wilbur remembered Staats saying. 

“What do you want to do after school,” Wilbur asked. 

“(Go) pro,” Staats responded. 

At OCC, Wilbur believes his players receive two educations. There’s the two-year associate's degree of course, but there’s also a degree in life. Upon arrival, Staats was a lacrosse player, one of the better ones Wilbur had seen at that age, but he wasn’t a professional. He wasn’t always on time for meetings. Some offseason days he never showed up to the weight room. 

Wilbur believes many players at the community college level need structure. He emphasized that showing up on game day wouldn’t be enough anymore. You’d have to gain your teammate's trust by being there through everything: From classes starting at 9 a.m. through 3 p.m. practice and study hall after. There was more than just lacrosse. If not, there’s always another guy hoping to work his way out of the community college circuit waiting to move up the depth chart. 

Staats became a “first guy in, the last guy out,” type player Wilbur said. He dedicated himself to the weight room and begged to put in close games when he was supposed to be nursing an injury. Staats finished as a top-two scorer for the Lazers in both his seasons at OCC while the team won two national titles. 

“He definitely had to go through growing pains,” Wilbur said. “By the time he left though, he was a different person and I thought we saw the maturity of just becoming an adult...And learning how to become a pro.”

The excitement in the central New York area grew as Staats entered his second year. Both Syracuse and Albany fans yearned for the community college star to come to play for their team. But parts of Staats maturation was understanding his own goals. He just simply didn’t love school. Attending a four-year university as a student-athlete wasn’t all about playing lacrosse. So he turned to the only option that was all about lacrosse and forewent the national exposure of Division I lacrosse. 

“He could've went out of high school and been a First Team All-American he's that talented,” said Jamieson who was an All-American honorable mention nominee himself. “It kind of sucks for the lacrosse world, the NCAA college world, that they didn't get a chance to see this kid but it's going to be pretty cool to watch him play in the PLL against the best field lacrosse players in the world.”