Seminoles
Along with extensive film reviews and offseason workouts, Florida State defensive end Brian Burns has reached out to former Seminoles legends at his position for wisdom and words of encouragement as he enters his junior year.
Burns was not shy making an impression, either, particularity during a phone call with Peter Boulware, an All-American with the Seminoles and Super Bowl champion during a nine-year NFL stint with the Baltimore Ravens.
The first words were “Hey, Peter, I’m going after your record,” Burns said with a laugh last week at ACC Kickoff at The Westin Charlotte.
Burns was referring to Boulware’s single-season sacks record, which sits at 19 for the 1996 season. It was nearly challenged with 16 sacks each from Andre Wadsworth in 1996 and DeMarcus Walker in 2016.
Reaching Boulware’s record could be a lofty task for Burns, who had the most sacks by a freshman and led all freshmen nationally with 9.5 sacks in 2016. He finished his sophomore season with 4 of his 4.5 sacks in the final five games of the 2017 season.
But Boulware was more than encouraging to the budding Florida State defensive end.
“He said, ‘it’s doable,’ ” Burns said of Boulware. “He said it’s going to be more difficult, but he said I could do it. I’m going for it. I want to continue that legacy.”
As much as Burns would like to chase school history, he will also focus on his evolving leadership role as one of four returning starters for the FSU defense this season.
In the past three seasons, Florida State has lost its outspoken standout defensive leaders in cornerback Jalen Ramsey, Walker, and safety Derwin James.
But Burns, like new coach Willie Taggart, is excited about the potential of FSU’s young core of highly recruited defenders.
“We do lack experience, but I am extremely confident in the guys we have that’s going to step up, and that’s what football is about,” said Burns, a former Plantation American Heritage standout.
Added Taggart: “We have some really good young players that haven’t played. I think you all will see them this year, and I think we’ll see the Florida State defense still be pretty good even though we don’t have many starters back.”
Under new defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett, the Seminoles plan to play a more aggressive style of defense that puts an emphasis on being fast and physical, and puts the Seminoles players in better positions to simply react to their offensive counterparts.
FSU played a “kinda conservative” style under former coordinator Charles Kelly, now at Tennessee.
“This year, we’re going after it,” Burns said.
Burns is joined by senior defensive tackle Demarcus Christmas, cornerback Levonta Taylor and safety A.J. Westbrook as returning starters.
The Seminoles expect major contributions from a number of players like defensive ends Joshua Kaindoh, Wally Aime and Janarius Robinson; cornerback Stanford Samuels III and defensive tackle Marvin Wilson, when he returns from a torn MCL suffered during the spring.
Linebackers Dontavious Jackson, Emmert Rice, Adonis Thomas and Josh Brown; and defensive backs Kyle Meyers, Carlos Becker, Hamsah Nasirildeen, Cyrus Fagan and Jaiden Woodbey will also see significant playing time.
Burns has a way to go before etching his name as a standout defender Florida State history, but knows how he would like for his time as a Seminoles player to be remembered.
“I just want to be known as a humble, educated dude that loves to work hard and plays the game he loves,” Burns said with a smile.