Austin Julian, known by his gamertag “Prestige” is Boise State’s newest varsity Valorant player. Austin Julian is well known in the high school Valorant scene due to his involvement in various competitive leagues and tournaments. He has played the game since its release in 2020 and holds a rank of Immortal 3. Julian is from Zionsville, Indiana and is in his first semester. With a new semester and a new player on deck, Boise State Esports is jumping on the “new” train with a new type of article, five fun facts about our varsity players that you might not know.
Fact 1: Austin Plays a Mean Rubik’s Cube
During the COVID pandemic, many people took up new hobbies and interests to fill all the time spent at home. Julian’s best friend took up speedcubing at the time, so Julian quickly followed. After hours and hours of practicing, Julian has reached the point where he can reliably solve a cube in less than a minute.
Fact 2: His First Video Games Were Edutainment Games
Today, Prestige is known as an FPS player but his time with video games started when he got his first laptop at age 4. His favorite childhood games hail from the longstanding edutainment series JumpStart. JumpStart ran from 1996-2023 and helped many children learn their mutiplication tables under the guise of a “fun” video game. Julian specificlly played JumpStart 3D Virtual World, and lists the underwater sea serpent named Jean Claude as his favorite character from the game.
Fact 3: He’s a Globetrotter
Julian has traveled to destinations in Europe and Asia already and plans on traveling to more countries in the future. He has been to Ireland, Italy, Mexico, and Thailand specifically. His trip to Thailand was given to him as a high-school graduation gift from his family. He spent 2 weeks exploring many parts of the country!
Fact 4: He is a Real Life Trombone Champ
In 2022, the rhythm game Trombone Champ was released to critical aclaim. The game enjoys a 10/10 rating on Steam and was the subject of various viral let’s plays on Youtube. Millions of players got simulate the thrill of being a trombonist. But for Julian, every day is a Trombone Champ day. He’s played the instrument for eight years and plans on participating in Drum Corps International next summer.
Fact 5: He Wants to Walk on Top of a Flying Airplane
Julian is a self-admitted thrill-seeker and recently went skydiving. However, like all thrill-seekers, the only thing better than a big thrill is the next, even bigger thrill. Instead of jumping out of a plane, he wants to walk on top of one while it’s flying. This isn’t just some random crazy fantasy either, it’s an actual activity called wing walking. Participants are strapped into a seat, harness, or general saftey apparatus before taking to the skies perched on top of the wing of an airplane (usually a biplane).
All of these five facts will not be apparent whatsoever once Julian takes to the esports stage. For all information relating to Austin Julian as a Valorant player, check out our recent article highlighting his sign-on. Keep an eye also also on Boise State Esports Twitch and Youtube pages to see him play as “Prestige” for the Bronco Valorant team!
Written by Jacob Palmer