Newcomer Profile: Why Brent Venables Likes Oklahoma WR Deion Burks' Competitive Grit
NORMAN — Deion Burks is big enough. He gained 15 pounds of muscle in his last offseason at Purdue. He’s certainly fast enough. He said he was clocked at 22.3 mph during a speed test in West Lafayette.
The improvements Burks wants to make at Oklahoma, he said, run much deeper.
“Pretty much the whole thing was I just wanted to get developed mentally,” Burks said. “I feel like I’m feeling good physically. But I want to get developed mentally and be in a program where they’re winning and knowing how to win.”
To that end, Oklahoma was a good fit. He was drawn to wide receivers coach Emmett Jones, and he was drawn to head coach Brent Venables.
“Coach BV played a big part in my decision as well, just the whole SOUL Mission thing and talking about life after football,” Burks said at OU’s spring media day recently.
“Also, Coach Jones played a great, great, great (role) — he’s a great dude, man. Like, just seeing how he changed the whole receiver room, just seeing how everybody pays attention to him and just listening to him, it’s a great thing to see. He definitely has a history of changing the whole receiver room. Man, I love Coach Jones.”
That the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Burks wanted something a little more profound out of his transfer than just a faster 40 time (he said it’s low 4.4, but Purdue coach Ryan Walters has intimated he was the team’s fastest player) or a higher vertical jump (find his highlights on YouTube and take a guess at his elevation) or more catches (he led the Boilermakers in catches, yards and touchdowns last season) isn’t too surprising. He’s endured some major adversity in his life, and he’s come out stronger on the other side.
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In 2022, he suffered a scary neck injury in the Boilermakers’ bowl game, but came back in 2023 and posted career-best numbers of 47 catches, 629 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. He also thrived despite a head coaching change that year, from Jeff Brohm to Ryan Walters.
“Just being around them guys, man, it was a great experience,” Burks said. “ … I could call them right now and they would pick up the phone and still give me advice or give me anything I need to hear.”
Burks’ greatest challenge, however, came in 2016, when he was just 13 years old. His mother, Dionne Bolden, died from asthma complications at the age of 42. He was raised by his father, Daniel.
“(Her memory) sticks with me every day, most definitely,” Burks told MLive when he committed to Purdue in 2020. “Every time I wake up, I definitely think about her. It’s like a motivation.
“She was always a strong woman. Like, she never told you when she was hurt and she was definitely dedicated.”
Burks blossomed into a high school football star in the Detroit suburb of Belleville, MI — about 80 miles from the hometown of new teammate Andrel Anthony. Now the two former Big Ten wideouts are looking to help transform the OU receiver corps.
In addition to his prodigious athletic skills, Burks has a grit to him that Venables likes — a grit that will complement the OU receiver corps. Venables himself has an intimate knowledge of adversity, and knows the quality of men it can forge, especially in an arena such as football.
“Deion Burks is as competitive a guy as we have on the team,” Venables said. “He’ll fit in really well with that group of guys. They have a great chemistry already. That’s been a group where not only do we have numbers and guys that are committed.”
What ultimately made Burks decide to choose Oklahoma once he entered the transfer portal?
“I would say just everything,” he said. “The success that Oklahoma has had. You got Smitty, man (strength coach Jerry Schmidt), he has a history of developing guys, and I definitely wanted to come get developed. You got Coach BV. He’s a man of God in my eyes, and he’s a real down-to-earth guy. You really don’t see that and see a coach that’s so passionate, at the head coaching position, about his players just outside of football.
“It was BV,” he said. “Like, you could tell. He’s a real down-to-earth guy. So it felt real genuine with Coach BV.”
This spring, Burks has already begun integrating into Seth Littrell’s offense, building a rapport with quarterback Jackson Arnold and finding his role alongside third-year sophomore Nic Anderson, senior Jalil Farooq, third-year sophomore Jayden Gibson, Anthony — who is recovering from a knee injury — and others.
“I feel like I fit in well,” he said. “Everybody brings their own thing to the table. I feel like just with the veteran guys, it’s kind of easy to follow after them as well. I still feel like I’m a veteran guy. Like, I’ve been in a few different offenses. So I kind of pick up on it quick as well.
“But even like the young guys, they don’t really seem young. Like, they’re way ahead of their years right now. You got (Jaquaize) Pettaway, he’s a great dude, man. And like veteran guys listen to Pettaway. So seeing the whole room just want to get better all at once, it’s a great thing to see.”
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