Former Daleville and Troy star headed to the CFL

The Toronto Agronauts of the Canadian Football League announced last week that the team has signed former Daleville and Troy running back Brandon Burks.

Burks immediately joined Toronto for a three-day minicamp at the campus of Bradenton Fla.’s IMG Academy on April 17.

“Mini camp went really well,” Burks said. “There were a lot of new things I have to learn with the differences between the CFL and NFL but I liked it. I just have to get used to it but I’m ready for it.”

Burks was an all-state running back at Daleville, where he rushed for 1,530 yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior and was awarded The Southeast Sun/Daleville Sun-Courier Offensive Player of the Year, before earning a scholarship to play for Troy University.

Burks went on to amass 2,253 yards and 12 touchdowns in his four seasons at Troy before signing with the Green Bay Packers and eventually New York Jets in the NFL, as the first Daleville graduate to play in the NFL since the 1990s.

The Jets released Burks after he tore his ACL, causing him to miss the entire 2017 season.

Since then, Burks proved his healthiness playing for the upstart developmental football league The Spring League, leading to his CFL signing.

“The knee is not a problem anymore,” Burks said. “It doesn’t faze me at all anymore.”

Burks displayed the shiftiness and speed that he dazzled Troy and Daleville fans for years in The Spring League, despite coming off such a serious injury.

“It sort of surprised me that my knee was (that good) coming off that injury,” Burks said. “I didn’t have to wear a knee brace or anything, so to be able to go out there and move around like I was able to was great.”

Burks said that getting a chance to display his ability in The Spring League, and in front of pro scouts, was a blessing.

“I feel like there are some things they need to work on but the whole process was a positive,” Burks said. “With all of the teams practicing at once it’s hard for guys to get reps and for teams to see them all at once, but it gives guys opportunities and I was proud of the opportunity I got from it.”

That opportunity came to Burks on his last day at The Spring League camp.

“It kind of came out of nowhere,” Burks said of the Toronto deal. “I didn’t hear anything from them until my last day there and the opportunity presented itself.

“I had to decide if I was going to take it or wait for something else down the road that might not happen. I thought I can take this opportunity now and really get myself back into that football mentality and mode after being out for an entire year.”

Burks says that he will take something he learned during bible study, when he was in Texas for The Spring League, with to the CFL.

“We were doing Bible study down there and a guy told me, ‘You didn’t come here to lose or to gain, you came here to gain,’ and that really stuck with me,” Burks said. “if you don’t gain anything from it, what was the point? The opportunity arose to gain something and I was able to do that (in The Spring League) and now I’m blessed to get this opportunity with Toronto.”

Burks will join former Troy and Jets teammate Chandler Worthy on the Toronto roster, along with former Troy linebacker Bear Woods.

“Bear Woods has been playing there for a good amount of times and he’s probably going to be a Hall of Famer (in the CFL),” Burks said. “I had a lot of friends that went to the CFL and all of them told me that they loved it and I’m just happy to get the opportunity.”

Some of the adjustments Burks will have to make to the Canadian game includes a bigger field and a no-fair catch rule on punt returns and the fact that receivers and running backs can actually get a head start, running towards the line of scrimmage, before the ball is snapped.

“I think some of those things will be to my advantage, especially when I’m matched up against linebackers,” Burks said. “The field’s bigger and defenders have to give a punt returner five yards of space. I liked that. I feel like some of that will play to my skills and I’m just happy to have an opportunity to show everything that I can do.”

Burks’ goal still remains a return to the NFL but he is not looking past his opportunity to play in the CFL.

“I felt like this is an opportunity I should take and whatever happens at the end of the season, we’ll go from there,” Burks said. “Players in the CFL get recruited by the NFL every year but I’m just excited for everything. I’m blessed to have this opportunity.”

Burks and his Toronto teammates will report for training camp on May 17 and week one of the CFL season begins on June 15 with Toronto facing off against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, which features former Alabama standouts Trent Richardson and Christion Jones.