Treylon Burks Q&A: Getting to Know the 2022 NFL Draft Prospect
Arkansas wide receiver Treylon Burks is one of the top rated wide receivers in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Burks, courtesy of Exos (teamexos.com).
Exos has trained 1,085 athletes who have been selected in the NFL draft, including 206 first round draft picks, seven number one overall picks and 82 picks in the top 10.
I caught up with Burks, who was training for the NFL Scouting Combine at Exos’ Texas training facility.
“It’s a really nice facility,” said Burks. “I’m from Arkansas. I’ve never seen buildings this big. I grew up in a town where there’s maybe 5,000 people, just coming out here to these nice facilities to have resources that you’ve really never had before is a blessing, and I can’t thank Exos enough for giving me the opportunity to be here.”
Q: Texas has to be perfect for you because I read that you like old westerns. What’s your favorite western movie?
Burks: I would have to say, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” I grew up watching that with my great grandparents. It just teaches you lessons that you can be good or you can be bad. Take care of your business and look out for those who are looking out for you. Always keep a chip on your shoulder to watch your back when things are going your way or things aren’t going your way to just always stay on your toes.”
Q: What do you like best about Exos so far?
Burks: “I really like the people here at Exos. I like the way they communicate with you, they interact with you. These are people that don’t even know you, they see thousands of kids every year. They just treat you like they’ve known you all of your life, that’s one thing that will help a kid coming out of college getting ready to train for the NFL.
Q: What is the most important thing to you in life?
Burks: The most important thing in my life is my great grandma. She’s been with my all my life and I’ve been with her half of her life, just making her proud every day, living my dream, and making her dreams come true is the thing for me that I’ll continue doing all my life.”
Q: What’s the coolest thing you did with your great grandma growing up?
Burks: “When I was three years old, I grew up watching ‘Dora the Explorer’ with her. She was just sitting there with me laughing, just encouraging me everyday. That’s one thing I thank her for, because it keeps me going everyday just knowing that’s she’s sitting there with me when she could’ve been doing anything else.”
Q: Talk about your deep game in your words?
Burks: “I’ve always wanted my deep game to be to the T. There’s things I need to improve on. I take advantage of a defense that wants to play off on me or wants to man me up. I feel like once I am out there on the edge, by myself, no one can stop me and I just go do it for my team.”
Q: How are you able to high point the ball so well?
Burks: “I just really concentrate on the ball the whole time. I don’t stare at it the whole time. It’s a certain point of time. I really don’t know how to describe it where I feel like when the ball is getting ready to come down, the DB is already jumping, but you just have to wait just a split second and just go up and get it and that’s what I do every time.”
Q: In your game against Alabama, eight catches, 179 yards, two touchdowns against Nick Saban’s team, take us back to that game if you could. In your words, could you walk us through that experience?
Burks: “The way I would describe that game was built off of courage. Some people when they play Alabama, they stoop down and get scared or [say] ‘that’s Alabama, that’s Alabama.’ Well, I never looked at anybody for their name. I just went out there and played. He’s another person, I’m a person, he’s got to beat me, you know what I mean. He’s got to stop me, and that’s what I did, I just went out there and played for my team and my family.”
Q: Back at Warren High School in Warren, Arkansas you also played basketball and baseball, how did playing those sports help you in your football career?
Burks: “It had a really big effect, just saying, with the deep ball, adjusting my eyes to the ball. Playing centerfield, you had to adjust your eyes in the sun with a little white ball, and also playing basketball you had to high point the ball and go up and get a rebound. Those things helped along the way and I just used those tools from that sport to the next sport and to the next sport.”
Q: Do you have a favorite route as a wide receiver?
Burks: “No, whatever the OC calls, that’s what I am going to run.”
Q: Do you have a wide receiver at any level that you’ve modeled your game after as you’ve come up?
Burks: “I would say D.K. Metcalf, Julio Jones and Ja’Marr Chase. When I watch film, I try to put a little bit of each person’s game into my game, and just make it better.
Q: Your legacy at Arkansas is linked to the great turn around that took place there, so let’s say you get selected by a team that has struggled. In your words, in what ways can you help change a team’s culture and make it into a winning culture?
Burks: “One of the things I can say is coming in and motivating everybody that you can’t live in the past. The past is the past and you can’t fix it, you just move forward and work hard. Put in the work, and the work will eventually show off. Just go out there every day, day by day knowing you gave a hundred percent effort and you did everything just to make your team better.”
Q: What do you think caused the turnaround at Arkansas?
Burks: “Everybody becoming closer, joining into a brotherhood, making everything about the team and not about one person. Just going out there and playing for each other. Just knowing you’ve got a right tackle that will back you up on any play, right or wrong, he’ll come up to you and tell you, ‘it’s okay, next play, we’re going to get it.’ That’s what we learned there at Arkansas that Coach Pittman brought to Arkansas, and we’re forever thankful for that.”
Q: What would you say to a little kid out there who dreams of being in the NFL one day as a wide receiver, what would be your message to him?
Burks: “I would say to him, always know in your mind that you’re the best. Go out there and you don’t have to prove anything to anyone but yourself. Go out there, be motivated, work hard everyday knowing after that workout or that practice that you left everything out there on that field, and everything will show on that Saturday or that Sunday.”
Q: The Jets are a team that has a young starting quarterback in Zach Wilson. Let’s say you get picked by that team or another team that has a young quarterback, in what ways do you think you can help a young quarterback get better?
Burks: “Honestly, just communication, going up to the quarterback, encouraging him, and also having him encourage me. Bringing in a bond with him, just knowing he’ll always have a receiver down there that has his back no matter if it’s 4th down, 4th and 1, he can look over there and throw me the ball and know he’s probably going to get 28, 30 yards or score a touchdown maybe on a 4th and 1 play, just giving him confidence, confidence is key for a quarterback.”
Q: How long have you been playing football?
Burks: “I started playing football when I was 11 years old.”
Q: Are you going to be at the draft, or are you going to be with friends and family?
Burks: “I haven’t made that decision yet. Just dealing with my great grandma, I would want her there and flying and everything, I don’t know how she would do that, so I haven’t made that decision yet.”
Q: It’s draft day, what’s that moment going to be like, all these years of playing football, all the work that’s gone into it, your phone rings, what’s that going to be like for you when you hear your name called?
Burks: “Honestly, it will be speechless, words you can’t describe just knowing that you put everything into this to get to this moment. It doesn’t even stop after that moment. You keep going and get better, but it’s just a feeling of a little kid watching these older players in the NFL or even playing Madden just thinking in your head, ‘man I want to be that guy one day, I want on there where I can buy the game and maybe I’ll be the best and on the cover of Madden.’ It’s just really, words can’t describe it.”
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