Standout defensive end Brandon Burrows recently committed to the University of Georgia to continue his promising football career, becoming just the latest in a long line of Raider football players to commit to a major college program. But Burrows’ story is a little different from the rest. The rising senior has sustained serious injuries to both of his knees in high school, most recently on May 7 when he tore his ACL in a controlled scrimmage.
The talented defensive end has kept a positive attitude despite the fact that he will be missing his final season of high school ball.
“School keeps me busy no matter what,” explained Burrows about how he will deal with sitting out. “Whatever pops up I’ll be doing to try to kill time. But mostly watching practice and supporting (the team).”
A FINE CAREER
In addition to ravaging offenses during his high school career, Burrows also was a problem for defenses as he played backup running back behind Michael Boydston and was slated to start at tailback this fall for the Raiders.
Did Georgia talk to Burrows about possibly playing some offense in the future?
“No, I’ll always be on defense (in college),” stated the future Bulldog weakside defensive end.
Unfortunately for Walton, Brandon has played his last down of high school football due to a recent knee injury. But the rising senior certainly made his mark on the program, including 10 sacks during the 2008 season. Burrows also had a remarkable four sacks in a game against Alpharetta.
But Burrows sees one football-related accomplishment that stands out above the rest.
“Last year, I was the recipient of the Raider Pride award,” he said. “(The award) goes to someone with good character. I’d say that would be my proudest (accomplishment).”
Burrows flashed his tremendous skills throughout a brief high school career, as he missed his sophomore season as well due to another knee injury. But along with possessing prototypical size for a defensive end, Burrows also ran an impressive 4.7 in the 40-yard dash when healthy, speed that many college defensive ends can only dream of.
Despite receiving interest from colleges starting the spring of his freshman year, the talented 6-3, 240-pounder didn’t think until this past year that he would be receiving scholarships to play college football.
“The spring of my freshman year, I was getting some look,” explained Burrows. “I started talking to coaches then. I didn’t really realize it, but I thought (a college scholarship) could be a possibility.
“I missed my sophomore year because I was out with an injury. My junior year I guess I just started performing and I started talking to more and more coaches and I thought, ‘Hey, I can do this.’”
The first coaches that contacted Brandon were from Vanderbilt and Clemson during his freshman year. A whopping 18 Division 1-A schools would eventually offer Brandon a scholarship to play football, including Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma and Clemson, just to name a few.
But Georgia would end up on top in the Brandon Burrows sweepstakes when he committed on July 8.
“I tore my ACL on May 7,” Burrows said. “On the morning of May 8, I spoke on the phone with [head coach Mark] Richt and he wanted to assure me that my scholarship still stood with him and that everything was fine and nothing was going to change.That stood out a ton to me.”
But did the other schools eventually call as well?
“I spoke to Clemson and Alabama,” he said. “Oklahoma talked to my coaches (at Walton). A bunch of other schools talked to my coaches.”
“Thank God I didn’t lose a single scholarship. So, basically, from a recruiting standpoint, nothing changed, which is great.”
Burrows then went over all of his offers and decided on UGA. Besides Richt’s phone call, several other things about the Bulldogs stood out to him.
“I would say the comfortability with the coaches,” declared Burrows. “Like my position coach, Coach Fabris, I think he’s a great guy. And Coach Richt, of course. The coach in charge of recruiting my area, Coach Searels, he’s just fun to talk to and is a great guy, too.”
ANOTHER RAIDER TO ATHENS
Walton is known for sending a lot of students up to Athens for college. But Burrows said that fact had no effect on his decision, although it may make him more comfortable once he moves there next year.
“I wasn’t really keeping that in mind because I was just focusing on things from a football standpoint. But it is a definite plus.”
Burrows becomes the first Walton Raider football player to sign a full scholarship to Georgia since Chuck Carswell in 1988, although walk-on wide receiver Craig Sager, Jr., is currently with the Bulldogs. In recent years, the East Cobb powerhouse program has sent players to colleges on a regular basis, such as Aaron Kelly to Clemson, Bailey Woods to Auburn, Chase Thomas to Stanford, and David Paulsen to Oklahoma State. Burrows’ current teammate, Kyle Woestmann, has committed to Vanderbilt.
Despite all of the talent coming through the Walton pipeline, longtime head coach Ed Dudley left after this past season to become head coach at Ware County. Former defensive coordinator Rocky Hidalgo will take over in Raider Valley this season.
Hidalgo, while continuing Dudley’s system, brings a different sort of personality to the table according to his former starting defensive end.
“They’re both terrific coaches,” Burrows stated. “Coach Hidalgo has already done a great job stepping in.
“I guess you could say that coach Dudley was more laid back,” he continued. “But Coach Hidalgo, he is really energetic and is usually hyped-up about things.”
Though his team will lose his productivity on both sides of the ball, the humble Raider still thinks Walton will have a solid year in 2009.
“We’re going to have a phenomenal season,” Burrows predicted. “We have a bunch of seniors returning. Our entire offensive line is returning seniors. We have a strong offensive line, strong defensive line, great linebacking corps and secondary.
“Mainly seniors that are just ready to get after it and I think we’re going to have a really strong season.”
Black can be reached at sblack@scoreatl.com.
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