As reported by Douglas Doughty, Xavier Burke (Brunswick) has committed to the Hokies. That's Tech's 4th commitment for the 2014 cycle. He attended Virginia Tech's one-day camp last Saturday, and had to have made an impression on the coaches. Rivals.com has him listed at 6-3, 247. I'm unable to find a highlight film, or very much useful information.
The Brunswick Times-Gazette wrote about him last August, "Burke was one of the top tight ends in the Southside District last season and has soft hands to go along with his 6-4 height." It also looks like he played a little quarterback last season, and was an All-Region I Honorable Mention.
Brunswick went 1-9 last season, scoring just 64 points, and they were shutout 4 times. It doesn't appear as if Burke plays for a powerhouse, so it's possible Beamer Co. found another hidden gem in Virginia.
If anyone has seen him play, please let everyone know what you think of him in the comments below.
Comments
Return of the Wild Turkey
6-3, 247, played some QB, and he's only a high school junior, so there's lots of growth potential? Let's hope he does a good Greg Boone impression.
I saw Xavier Burke play last season when Brunswick visited Greensville for both teams' finales. He took over at QB for a young and rebuilding team midseason after their freshman QB got hurt. Also played DE on defense, and from what I understand, started the season playing TE on offense. He was the type of QB who was the largest player on the field. Best play was to keep it on the spread option and make Greensville gang tackle (just one person wasn't going to tackle the kid). He also made some plays on defense, from what I recall. Brunswick is a basketball school (won two straight state titles), but the football program is pretty solid (aside from the down year last year). Also a good track and field program. The school is loaded with athletes, several playing in college right now (Javonte Green for Radford hoops is a stud who flew under the radar), several more committed in future classes. If BJ Stith pursued football instead of basketball, you'd probably know a little more about Burke, because Stith would have been a D1 QB recruit and a passer. I imagine VT plans to play Burke elsewhere other than QB, but you never know with the way those guys develop talent. Anyway, here's a link to my story from the game I saw Burke play.
http://www.vancnews.com/independent_messenger/sports/article_a4651b5d-50...
P.s. I heard Tech likes an O-lineman out of Park View South Hill too. I know Stinespring made the rounds in Southside Virginia last season. Said Tech was trying to get back to the days when they visited every school in Virginia and talked to every coach. Not sure that had anything to do with Burke, though. From what I can tell, they just discovered him at a one-day camp.
Burke
I played in this conference (Football, Basketball, Baseball) 2003-2006. Brunswick is definitely a basketball school and not exactly solid in football program. I remember at Greensville for Basketball games we had police escorts from the charter bus to the locker rooms and even had one on each end of the bench. Other than the safety concerns, the community packed the house for basketball games. Unreal atmosphere at Greensville with the school band playing right behind the visitors bench. Brunswick had a guy that used to play Pro basketball come take their basketball team over and they have a sick gym now.
Anyways, a lot of the schools in the Southside district have some talented guys in all sports, but get overlooked because it is AA. I am surprised more don't end up going D1.
Hope the best for both of these two 2014 commits. Look forward to following their development. I can't imagine being that talented as a sophomore.
DWalt, I must have played you in football and basketball, as I'm a c/o '05 Brunswick Bulldog. We also had police escorts in/out of Emporia... it's not like either town is dangerous, it's the GCHS/BSHS rivalry itself.
The former NBA player/new coach is Bryant Stith. He's the all-time leading scorer for UVA, and played 10 years in the NBA, mostly as the Nuggets' starting SG. Brunswick has been to 6 straight State Championship games in basketball (all six of Stith's seasons coaching), winning the last two.
Zmaynard
Probably so. I went to Powhatan. I would love to see the GCHS vs. CSHS basketball game. I can only imagine how hype everyone gets for that. Very talented basketball teams!
Yep,that's his name. It had slipped my mind. I knew he was a big time player though. 6 straight championship games is crazy, but not surprising considering how much talent there is in the area paired with a coach that knows his stuff.
It was a bit of an assumption on my part that you were from Greensville... I don't recall escorts for other teams. I enjoyed playing Powhatan in football and baseball, though y'all usually won. We played one varsity football game at Powhatan in BITTER cold that I'll never forget (2001, maybe?). I was very sad to learn that PHS and Matoaca were leaving the Southside District.
EJ Wilson played QB for Brunswick until is Sr year, which was clearly not his position. Butch Davis stole him from VT, added weight, slid him to DE, and put him in the NFL. Casey Walker is also playing D-1 basketball and doing well.
IMsports and dwalt88
Fantastic information y'all, thank you for sharing. Hopefully there'll be some video of him after this season. It sounds like we got another good one.
Bitter caught up with him and his coach -- http://hamptonroads.com/2012/07/little-bit-more-recent-14-commit-xavier-....