West Virginia safety Aubrey Burks will have to navigate heightened attention on Tuesday and Wednesday in Las Vegas thanks to high praise by PFF College this week.
Head coach Neal Brown and four select seniors, Aubrey Burks, Garrett Greene, Sean Martin, and Wyatt Milum, are off to Big 12 Football Media Days this Tuesday and Wednesday. The mindset, expectations, and plans of the hungry Mountaineers will be on full display Wednesday, as Brown and his players address the public at 2:40 p.m. ET.
Also on full display for the Mountaineers will be a top 10 safety in the nation. Aubrey Burks, one of Brown’s trusted seniors this week, earned praise from PFF College to start this week, as he was ranked its 10th best safety in college football.
Burks has shown remarkably quick growth in three seasons at WVU. He eased his way into his collegiate career nicely as a freshman, contributing solo tackles in games against Long Island and Baylor, before his season was ended with an injury at TCU.
As a sophomore, Burks bounced back in a big way, tallying the second most tackles of all Mountaineers, with 66 in 11 games. 46 of Burks’ tackles were solo tackles, and he also picked up an interception, forced a fumble, defended three passes, and gained one sack for nine yards. As a junior, Burks was on pace to improve even more, before his entire future was called into question with yet another injury at TCU.
Running toward TCU punt returner JoJo Earle, Burks shortly found himself on the ground, having bounced off of Earle, before two fellow Mountaineers attempted the tackle again, resulting in all three hitting Burks’ body in the process. Burks was carted off of the field and did not return in the game.
The injury failed to douse Burks’ competitive fire, however, and he went on to play 12 of WVU’s 13 games as a junior. Burks finished the year with 48 tackles, including 39 solo, four for loss, and 1.5 sacks, as well as two interceptions, six passes defended, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
While this high level of play is not exactly brand new for Burks, this level of recognition is. Despite earning All-Big 12 Second Team honors as a sophomore and his superb 2023 campaign, Burks was merely selected as an honorable mention to his own all-conference team last season, much less an All-American.
PFF does have a history of breaking that trend, though, as the organization gave Burks a nod to its defensive All-Big 12 Team in his breakout sophomore season, but after failing to do the same last year, the top 10 safety praise broke a bit of silence from PFF on Burks’ behalf.
With his deserved honors to start the week, Burks will go on to Big 12 Football Media Days as a player to watch and listen to as he previews a WVU secondary without Beanie Bishop Jr.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
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