'Did You Watch It?' Treylon Burks WAS Best Player on Field, Sam Pittman Says
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman acted a little surprised at the question about Treylon Burks.
"Did you watch it?" Pittman asked. "He WAS the best guy out there."
The Razorbacks put up 45 points in the first half, reserves took over in the second half and they cruised to the 45-3 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday at War Memorial Stadium.
Burks, a junior from Warren, has made a few plays in that stadium before. The Lumberjacks played three straight championship games there when he was in high school.
"I know this place pretty well," Burks said later. "Really it's just good to come home and put on a show for the home team."
He had four catches for 89 yards on four targets and two of them went for touchdowns. He added another 56 yards on top of that rushing, including another touchdown on a 49-yard run down the right sideline where nobody laid a finger on him.
"Whatever we call it, that little jet sweep," he said about the run. "It really reminded me of when we played Arkadelphia here (state championship game in 2017). It felt good."
Quarterback KJ Jefferson saw an opening offensive coordinator Kendal Briles told him to look for and when he got it, that's what he went with.
"(Briles) just told me to just read it and if I liked it outside, liked (the) space, just try to get Treylon in space,” Jefferson said. “He’s a freakish player in space, so when we snapped the ball I gave it to him, turned around and looked and saw him hit the lane.
"It was over from there.”
He is the third Lumberjack from Warren to reach 2,000 career receiving yards. For those that aren't aware, it's a town of just over 6,000 people (and it's been roughly that size for decades).
They've been growing tomatoes, pine trees and wide receivers there for years.
"We had a lot of talent come out of Warren with Jarius Wright, Greg Childs and Chris Gragg," Burks said. "To be a part of that means a lot."
Burks also did it three years that included the mess that was the COVID-shortened 2020 season and the Hogs haven't played in a bowl game during that time.
"He's a great player and he's not done yet," Pittman said.
With his size and intangibles, Burks is projected as high as the first round of next year's NFL draft.
"The bottom line is we'll look at where the NFL tells us that he's going to be drafted," Pittman said. "Then I’ll sit down with him and his family and we'll all figure it out.
"But he still has at least 4-5, hopefully 5 games, left for us before that decision ever has to be made."
Burks has a shot at breaking Wright's school record of 2,934 yards, but would probably have to come back to keep it in the Lumberjack family.
He's not thinking a whole lot about that right now, though.
“Really, I want to play for Arkansas, and that’s who I’m playing for right now,” Burks said. “The NFL will come later and I’ll worry about that when that time comes.”
