WR Coach Zohn Burden Makes Quick Impression on Receiver Recruits After Only a Few Weeks on the Job

After spending just a little over two weeks as a Hokie, Zohn Burden hasn't had much time to learn about his new school.

Burden was hired as Tech's new wide receivers coach on February 2, but he wouldn't arrive on campus until February 6. Just one day later the team hosted a Junior Day event, and suddenly he was working with the staff to welcome dozens of rising seniors to a campus that he barely knew how to navigate himself.

"He said he didn't much know about the playbook or the campus yet," said Eric Kumah, a receiver from Woodbridge, Va.'s Forest Park HS that's considering an offer from VT. "I think he was getting a tour at pretty much the same time I was."

There's no doubt that Burden has some catching up to do, and fast. Outgoing WR coach Aaron Moorehead made some big strides in recruiting top notch talent at the position in just the last two years, and Burden will have to adjust quickly to maintain his momentum.

But even if Burden is still learning some of the more specific details about the program, it's clear that growing up in Virginia Beach has given him a first-class education in Tech's history.

"For me, it's a dream come true and I take a whole lot of pride in it. I'm honored to be a part of this staff," Burden said. "(Especially) as a young kid watching Virginia Tech on television and growing up and my friends in high school playing on this team and playing for Coach Beamer."

As Burden has started to establish himself with the Hokies on the recruiting trail after years of coaching at schools in Conference USA or the Colonial Athletic Association, he's gotten a firsthand look at how other recruits view a program like Virginia Tech.

"The biggest thing for me, when I had the ODU and Richmond logo on my shirt, was understanding the kind of power when you walk into a room with a Virginia Tech logo on your shirt, especially when you're at a Virginia school," Burden said. "The sense of pride and the legacy and the tradition that this place has, especially in the state of Virginia, is just monumental for a 17-, 18-year-old prospect. It's kind of the attention that you command when you walk into a room."

But showing off Tech's superior resources and beautiful campus will only go far with many of these top recruits. As Burden tries to build the next great class of Hokies' receivers, he plans to focus on building fresh relationships with recruits that previously became attached to his predecessor.

"Being me, being natural, being honest, and always communicating and maintaining relationships, that's kind of the recruiter that I am," Burden said. "I'm laid back, but I can have a burst of energy once I get to know someone a little bit better. And I think recruits and prospects, they kind of get a sense of who's being real and who isn't, and I think I'm more always on that side of the being real part, so I think that's kind of my niche."

Recruits that have had a chance to meet him echo that sentiment.

"I spoke with him for about 15 minutes, and he was just really humble and straightforward," said Donald Stewart, a receiver from West Orange, N.J.'s Paramus Catholic HS that also stopped by Junior Day. "He told me what he liked about my game, what I needed to improve on."

Others were able to sense a connection with him as soon as they met.

"We really got along, I definitely think I'd be able to work with him," said Samuel Denmark, a Junior Day attendee and receiver from Charleston, S.C.'s Hanahan HS. "He'd only been there for two days, but he said he'd already watched my film and he liked what he saw."

While the high marks from this trio of receivers is promising for Burden, they've also only been hearing from the Hokies for a relatively brief period of time. Kumah and Denmark were offered by Tech in November and October respectively, while Stewart has yet to receive an offer (a process he notes has been "slowed down" by Moorehead's sudden departure).

The true test comes from a player that's been talking with Moorehead for years, like receiver Tino Ellis of Hyattsville, Md.'s DeMatha Catholic HS.

"I was super ecstatic when I first got the offer. I think it was like my ninth grade year," Ellis said. "Coach Moorehead, he saw me work out and then offered. I grew up a Virginia Tech fan, ever since I was little, so I was extremely pleased."

Moorehead got a chance to meet Ellis while recruiting his high school teammate (and future Hokies' starter) Cam Phillips, and he clearly made securing a second DeMatha receiver for the Hokies a priority.

"I used to talk to Coach Moorehead about once a week," Ellis said. "He used to come up to my school all the time, I saw him just a couple weeks ago, but unfortunately he's moving on."

After Moorehead announced his departure for College Station, recruiting coordinator Bryan Stinespring got in touch with Ellis to assure him the Hokies were still interested, and he confirmed the feeling was mutual.

But when Ellis made his way down to Junior Day, meeting Burden was a high priority for him nonetheless.

"He seems like the type of coach to care about his players," Ellis said. "It sounds like he's got big goals for receivers in the program, he wants to have a guy get the first thousand yard season in Tech history."

At just 31-years-old, Burden is uniquely positioned to show that compassion for his players and relate with his proteges.

But he remains cognizant of the need to set clear set firm boundaries between his role as confidant and coach. He immediately noticed the challenge when he got his start at Fork Union Military Academy as a WR/DB coach upon graduating from the Virginia Military Institute back in 2006.

"I think that's one of the first things I learned when I got into coaching, when I got to Fork Union, with John Shuman, that you've got to draw line in the sand, no matter how old you are or how young you are," Burden said. "I was 21 years old and those guys were coming out of high school at 18 years old, so obviously that's a very close line of age right there where I had to draw a line in the sand and say 'hey, look, I'm not your friend, I'm your coach. I care about you off the field, but we're not going to hang out and be boys, I'm your coach.'"

Yet being closer in age to the 17- and 18-year-olds could be an issue for some coaches when it comes time for them to talk with parents and grandparents that are looking to be put at ease. Burden says that's never been a problem for him.

"I think parents are the same as any person. You can tell who's being honest and who's not, who's being straightforward and who's not," Burden said. "I think it's easy to establish a relationship with parents and they'll trust you by just being honest with them, I don't think age has anything to do with it. I think you could be a 60-year-old guy and still be honest and be able to relate to anyone if you want to put the time and effort into doing it, so I don't look at it as a challenge at all."

Burden at least made a good impression on Ellis' folks (who says his parents loved the most recent trip) but it seems that the new Hokie is also well aware of the value of letting his players do some of the recruiting for him.

"Cam and I came through DeMatha together, so we hung around the whole day," Ellis said. "He showed me his dorms, the campus. I wasn't with the others as much, just because I spent the whole time with him."

Kumah had a similar experience, spending time with Phillips, Kendall Fuller and Greg Stroman (an alum of Manassas' Stonewall Jackson HS who he calls "my boy" from years of playing against each other).

Stewart hails from farther afield than Ellis and Kumah, yet even he found an old teammate to give him a first-class tour in redshirt freshman offensive lineman Billy Ray Mitchell.

"I hung out with him the whole weekend, stayed with him in the dorms," Stewart said. "He spoke highly of the program, and the academics too."

Yet with that Junior Day already fading in the rearview, Burden is now turning his attention to getting these prospects back on campus as soon as possible.

"He was talking to me on Twitter just the other day, trying to get me to come for their spring practices," Ellis said.

Ellis says he hopes to come down at the end of March for a practice, as does Denmark, while Kumah thinks his next visit will be a little bit later.

"I want to come down for the spring game," Kumah said. "I want to talk to all the coaches more, see how they coach at the game."

In the meantime, Burden is gearing up to play host at another Junior Day on February 28, while also feeling out his role within the staff when it comes to recruiting territory.

"We haven't decided 100 percent yet, but I'm sure I'm going to have my hand in Tidewater at some point here," Burden said. "I imagine it's going to be down in Virginia Beach where I've done most of my recruiting in the past."

Burden also spent plenty of time in the Richmond area in his time with the Spiders, so it seems like that'll spend plenty of time targeting a pair of areas where the Hokies haven't had much success recently.

But he's also hoping to apply his ability to build relationships with recruits to the players that have already decided to call Blacksburg home.

"Right now, we're meeting individually, putting football aside and trying to start to establish relationships as far as off the field and with life and all those things. Just finding the things that motivate those guys and their expectations for the springs and what motivates them," Burden said. "Then I'll continue to watch film and put together my plan individually for each player and see what my approach is going to be going into spring ball to get those guys to turn their weaknesses into strengths and keep their strengths and make them stronger."