catmandoo
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Member # 1284
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posted 08-29-2007 04:09 PM
A great story about a great guy, Keenan Burton. It's good to read about good people doing well...
If you were to draw up a blueprint of a perfect college football wide receiver, you'd make him about 6-foot-2, 195 pounds with crazy athletic ability, electric speed and a 40-inch vertical leap. You'd give him personality and style. You'd make him articulate with a mega-watt smile -- the kind you'd want on a billboard along, say, I-65. But you wouldn't stop there. You'd make him a good student who wanted to earn his degree before he cashed his first NFL paycheck. You'd make him honest and humble, a team player who would rather see his squad win -- and his teammates get their due -- than feel the spotlight burn his face.
You'd draw him up like Keenan Burton, the Louisville native and star wide receiver/kick returner for the University of Kentucky.
'I'm going to play there.'
Last year, UK went 8-5 and won its first bowl game in 22 seasons, and Burton earned All-SEC honors. He hauled in 77 catches for 1,036 yards and a league-leading 12 touchdowns. He ranked ninth nationally in all-purpose yards. Some of his finest YouTube moments came in a four-catch, 127-yard performance against Louisville in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium during which he caught a 73-yard TD reception and returned a kickoff 100 yards for another score.
Still, Burton always imagined himself in a Louisville uniform and on a Cardinals billboard. He grew up a Cards fan, watching Deion Branch and Chris Redman, and dreamed of playing in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Some days after school he and his dad -- a former track star at Morehead State -- would go for a run around the U of L campus and stop at the stadium.
"I'm going to play there one day," he would tell his father.
But playing in the same city, during the same era, as high school All-Americans Michael Bush and Brian Brohm, Burton didn't get much love from Louisville. He played quarterback and defensive back his last two years at du Pont Manual High School, and most colleges recruited him for their secondaries. Only UK wanted him at receiver.
"A lot of great athletes were in the state of Kentucky the year I came out. Louisville had recruited a lot of great athletes and hadn't really recruited me, but Kentucky saw the potential," Burton said.
UK believed in Burton, so he believed in its football program, even in hard times. The Wildcats went 4-8, 2-9 and 3-8 in his first three years on campus, which were anything but easy. Burton got some playing time (and a touchdown vs. U of L in his first game) as a true freshman, but missed all but two games in 2004 with a broken wrist, then missed four more games due to injury in 2005. Meanwhile, critics howled for coach Rich Brooks' job.
But Burton never wavered. He leaned hard on his sister during late-night calls to Atlanta and stayed true blue, thanks to something he learned at a young age -- loyalty.
"Since I've been playing athletics, my grandmother and father have never missed a game, never, not one," Burton said. "And I've been playing since I was about 5 years old."
Keenan Burton, A Family Guy
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http://www.ukfightsong.com/
Posts: 186366 | From: st. augustine florida 32092 | Registered: Mar 2001
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