• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Michigan LB Prescott Burgess (official thread)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
tribune-chronicle

6/29/06

Burgess readies for fall

By MIKE McLAIN Tribune Chronicle



<TABLE style="FLOAT: right" borderColor=#000000 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width="30%" bgColor=#cccccc border=0><TBODY><TR align=middle><TD>
c120burgess.jpg
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
PRESCOTT BURGESS​
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
WARREN — It might not be a good thing to mention last season to any member of the University of Michigan football team.

For a program that’s accustomed to winning Big Ten championships and runs at the national crown, the 2005 season was like a bad dream. The Wolverines posted a 7-5 record in the regular season, including a loss to Ohio State. An attempt to end the season on a positive note failed with a loss to Nebraska in the Alamo Bowl.

The best thing a player can do is file away the memory of last season with a bad grade on a pop quiz. In other words, forget about it and move on.

That’s the approach being taken by Michigan outside linebacker Prescott Burgess, a 2003 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School. Burgess is convinced that better times are ahead for one of college football’s elite programs.

‘‘All I can say is that we’re looking good,’’ Burgess said Monday during a break while serving as an instructor at the Korey Stringer Community Fund football camp at Mollenkopf Stadium. ‘‘This will be a way different look from last year. Our minds are focused on winning games. We have to bounce back from a ... I’m not going to say a terrible season ... but it wasn’t so good.’’

The look of the Big Ten has changed in recent years. The biggest difference has been the return to dominance of Ohio State. A long stretch of mediocrity under previous coach John Cooper has given way to a succession of talent-laden teams under the leadership of coach Jim Tressel.

When the preseason polls are released, Ohio State is expected to be at or near the top. Burgess tries to look at a broader picture than Ohio State when sizing up the Big Ten.

‘‘I don’t look at just one team on our schedule,’’ he said. ‘‘We go game by game. We know that we have to win every time that we go on that field. I think we have that in our heads right now. We’re all seeing a great season.’’

After filling a reserve role in his first two seasons at Ann Arbor, Burgess moved into the starting lineup last season. He finished third in tackles with 81 (45 solos and 36 assists). He had one sack, one interception, five passes defensed and two forced fumbles.

Burgess, who has one year of eligibility remaining, weighed as much as 250 pounds, but he’s trimmed down to 235. By all indications he’s prepared to be one of the dominant forces on defense.

‘‘Everyone shows leadership in a different way,’’ Burgess said. ‘‘If I’m a captain, I just have to go out there and do positive things and be a role model for my team and get them hyped and ready to win games.’’

Burgess will undoubtedly be invited to the NFL Combine next February in Indianapolis, where he’ll get a chance to impress coaches and scouts. With his combination of size and speed, it seems certain that he’ll be drafted in April.

‘‘There’s talk about where I’ll be (drafted) at linebacker, but you can’t go off what you read,’’ Burgess said. ‘‘I just have to play to what I’m capable of doing. When you win games, you’re in the spotlight. Once we start winning games, then everything else will start taking care of itself.’’

Burgess could have entered the draft this year, but with only one year as a starter to his credit, he feels he needs to sharpen his skills before reaching the next level.

‘‘You can always learn more by staying,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t have every tool to come out early. I just have to stick with the books and play hard on the field. Hopefully, God will be on my side and will carry me on to the next level.’’

There’s a good chance of that happening.

[email protected]
Click to expand...
 
Upvote 0
‘‘I don’t look at just one team on our schedule,’’ he said. ‘‘We go game by game. We know that we have to win every time that we go on that field. I think we have that in our heads right now. We’re all seeing a great season.’’
Click to expand...

That sounds like something you would have heard Coop say.
 
Upvote 0
Hey, Dumbass, there is only one team on your schedule. The rest of it is practice. The Game is the season. It is the reason you play. Perhaps your lack of understanding of this fact is why you were sitting on your ass as you watched Pittman score.
 
Upvote 0
That article was kind of funny..

Where Michigan was dominating the 90's, making national championship runs, it seems, at every year, Ohio State was floundering in mediocrity under John Cooper.

Like in 96.97.and 98, where we were barely coming out of the season with a winning record.

What an article.

Ka-phooey.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top