Recruiting trail heats up for Starkville’s Burnside
People around Starkville have known for a long time what the rest of the Southeastern Conference and beyond is learning about Braylon Burnside.
“Stonka,” as he's more affectionately known, has been producing for the Starkville Yellow Jackets for a couple of years but has been the talk of coaches, fans and players at the school for years before. He played safety and wide receiver as a sophomore when he was selected Starkville Daily News All-area.
This past season, Burnside moved almost exclusively to the offensive side for SHS though still dabbling at safety. He had a monster junior year with quarterback Trey Petty on the offensive side of the football hauling in 75 catches for 1,158 yards and 11 touchdowns to help lead the Jackets to a state championship win over Brandon after losing the first three Class 6A, Region 2 games of the season.
With his big year has come an uptick in college attention. He picked up early offers from Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Oregon and has also grabbed an offer from Florida State. He's also getting some major interest from bigger names like Alabama.
“It's been like a dream,” Burnside said. “The recruiting process is going fast now because coaches are starting to reach out and come up to the school. It's a little too fast so I'm trying to get myself together. I've been going to junior days, getting to know the coaches and getting to see different places and it's been a fun experience.”
It was a whirlwind last couple of weeks for Burnside who took a visit to Troy, but then made a string of visits to Southeastern Conference schools over the course of a three-day period last weekend.
Last Friday, Burnside was in his hometown of Starkville taking in a visit at Mississippi State. He went to Tuscaloosa on Saturday to see Alabama and followed that up with a Sunday trip to Ole Miss. He discussed what stood out about all three schools.
“I'm right down the road from Mississippi State and they show more love than anybody,” Burnside said. “They tell me all the time that they want me to come and they want me to stay home. Coach (Chad) Bumphis is recruiting me really hard and said he could use me different ways and all around the field.
Their offense is a fast-paced, RPO offense so I think it would be good for me. (Bumphis) is a playful guy and a lot like me. He's a joyful dude. I watched how he acts around other players and he's a good dude. You can tell he puts a whole lot of energy in what he's doing.
“Bama is getting closer to me, too. I felt welcomed by coach Freddie Roach from the moment I got there. I got to associate with the receivers coach. We're getting close to them too. It was a dream to get a chance to actually go to Bama. To take pictures and talk to all of those coaches is a dream.
“(Ole Miss) comes out and shows love. Coach (Lane) Kiffin came to Starkville to see me and Trey (Petty) in person and that was cool. It's nothing but love from their coaching staff.”
At the time of the interview with Burnside, he was on the road to Oxford on Sunday afternoon to take an unofficial visit to Oxford to check out what the Rebels had to offer. It wrapped up an extremely busy weekend for both him and his mother Sandra.
Speaking of, Burnside isn't shy about making it known who he leans on the most during this process. If you see Stonka, Sandra is not going to be far behind. She has been the rock for the talented young athlete from day one and she'll be right there with him in the thick of his decision-making process as well.
“She is the boss of this whole recruiting process,” Burnside said. “She's the one that goes to all of these schools with me. She has the final say-so because she knows, and she pays more attention to all of the little things. I just can't wait to one day pay her back for everything she's done for me. I promised her that one day she won't have to work again and I'm going to make that happen.”
With the dead period now in effect for the next few months, Burnside now goes back to work improving his game. There's spring practice on the way for the Jackets and he's also taking part in Mesh Academy's 7-on-7 team with players like Petty, Caleb Cunningham, JJ Harrell and others.
Burnside's next trips will be to spring practices in March and plans to see Tennessee, Tulane, Troy, LSU and others. As far as a decision, he's a long way away from that. He plans to wait until the very end.
“I'm still going to wait it out until December,” Burnside said. “I want everyone to be on pins and needles to see where I'm going to go. I want everybody to be guessing every step of the way and I'm not going to tip my hand.”