Carter: Burton's Versatility Highlights Record-Setting Night
Sunday, September 26, 2010 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No one is ready to declare true freshman Trey Burton the next Tim Tebow, but at times in Florida's 48-14 win over Kentucky on Saturday night, Burton resembled a smaller version of the player who redefined greatness at Florida.
The 6-foot-2, 222-pound Burton ran through, around and over would-be tacklers. He threw a 42-yard pass to Omarius Hines. He caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from John Brantley. Burton basically did whatever he pleased, scoring a school-record six touchdowns and raising his profile in a way that could make walking to class Monday morning a little more time consuming thanks to all the handshakes and backslaps.
“He's a rock star probably,'' teammate Jeremy Brown said of Burton's new-found fame. “He is definitely big-time. I know these Gator fans are going to be hitting him up on Facebook.''
A true freshman from Venice, Fla., Burton became just the fourth player in SEC history and first since Auburn's Cadillac Williams in 2003 to score six touchdowns in a game. Burton scored on runs of 11, 10, 9, 3 and 7 yards, and his 11-yard touchdown reception from Brantley put the Gators up 14-0 in the first quarter. Tebow once accounted for seven touchdowns in a game – five rushing and two passing – in a win over South Carolina in 2007, but no Gator had ever scored six by himself.
Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio said the plan was for Burton to be more involved in the offense on Saturday, which seemed a difficult challenge considering that he has already lined up at quarterback, receiver, tight end and running back this season. What the Gators wanted to do was to run more of the offense out of the wildcat formation, creating more options in the spread.
Burton did the rest, scoring six of the 11 times he touched the ball (five rushes, five receptions and one pass), adding a nice bonus to head coach Urban Meyer's 100th career win.
“It felt like a dream the whole night,'' Burton said. “I'm just real thankful.''
As the game wore on and Burton kept finding himself in the end zone, the rest of the team started letting him know how special of a game he was having.
“They said there are 10 other guys on the field,'' Burton joked.
But the one who stood out most was wearing No. 8, a number change from the No. 13 he had been wearing. Burton changed uniforms because Dee Finley, who plays on the same kickoff team as Burton, also wears No. 13.
Based on his performance, Burton's uniform change could go down as one of the most productive in college football history.
Addazio didn't plan for Burton to score six touchdowns, but he did want the ball in his hands more to take some of the pressure off Brantley in the passing game and to allow Burton's overall athleticism to force Kentucky to be aware of him at all times.
“We just planned on using him in that capacity for sure,'' Addazio said. “There was no doubt about it. We were going to get that [spread] going. He's fast, he's got great hands, he's tough, he's athletic. He's one of those guys … he's a ballplayer. He picks things up real quick.''
Burton is also modest, another trait he shares with Tebow. When asked if he thought he would ever do something Tebow never did so early in his career, Burton deferred to one of his sports idols.
“He's the best football player to ever play college football,'' Burton said of Tebow.
From what Meyer saw Saturday, Burton isn't too bad, either.
“Trey Burton was fantastic,'' he said. “I thought he was a good player when we recruited him, a really good player. We had no idea what we had until we figured it out during training camp.''
With Brantley a more traditional drop-back passer, the Gators' hope that Burton's versatility can continue to cause defenses problems like Saturday's rout over Kentucky in the Gators' SEC home opener.
Burton has quickly made an impact on his older teammates, and that respect grew after a breakout performance that had Burton trending on Twitter early Sunday morning.
“He had a heck of a game,'' center Mike Pouncey said. “There will never be another Tim Tebow, but Trey Burton, he works hard and he deserves it. We knew the whole time he was going to be a big part of our offense, we just had to figure out where he was going to be at.''
Based on what took place on Saturday night in The Swamp, Burton may not make anyone forget Tebow, but he can now say he did something Tebow never did.
He also helped Meyer celebrate a special night, becoming the second-fastest coach since 1945 to reach 100 career wins.
“I just feel very blessed,'' Meyer said. “Some of these coaches who I have known a long time don't get to coach players like I get to coach.''
