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Artie Burns
Junior - CB - 6'0 193 - Miami Northwestern H.S.
Burns enters his third season in the program with just 1 career INT, but he does have 57 career tackles, including 2.5 for loss, 9 pass break ups, and is widely considered one the best cover corners (if not the best) on the roster.
Artie is also pretty ridiculous as a track athlete:
Artie Burns placed second in Heat 2 of the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 13.70 seconds. He is Oregon Bound! pic.twitter.com/5ZwnSxTb6A
— Miami Track/XC (@MiamiTrack) May 30, 2015
But UM faithful are more concerned about a break out season in 2015 on the gridiron.
Burns himself is hoping for the same.
Summary: It's hard to imagine how a player with so much talent has managed just one pick in two seasons in Coral Gables. Burns is such a fluid athlete, runs in the 4.4 range, and is physical enough to play press as well. But his ball skills have not yet caught up with his physical talent, and in many ways he is reminiscent of former UM and current Green Bay Packers CB Sam Shields (minus several position changes). If he can get his hands on a few more footballs, the sky is the limit for this young man. He has shown a knack for squaring up opponents as a tackler, but if he wants to garner the attention of NFL scouts, not to mention help the Hurricanes progress as a program, picks will be the key. Al Golden and Mark D'Onofrio like to rotate their corners a lot, and Burns will be sharing time with Tracy Howard, Corn Elder, Ryan Mayes, and others. Nonetheless, anything short of 3-4 INTs would be disappointing considering his talent (unless of course opposing CBs avoid him like the plague). Watch out for Burns on ST as well, where his blinding speed could help him block a few kicks.
Stay tuned for more player profiles from SOTU as we count down to kick off.