The future stars of Ohio State football officially begin their Buckeye careers as standouts from all over the country put pens to their National Letters of Intent.
It's not often that you see a three-star football player from a major football powerhouse like Louisville Trinity only have three offers to his name. Especially when that player, as as junior, led his team, the Class 6-A state champions, with 47 receptions for 718 yards and seven touchdowns as a wide receiver while collecting four interceptions on defense. That didn't matter much for Rodjay Burns though, he had the ones he wanted.
The Burns File
- Class: 2016
- Size: 6-2/175
- Pos: DB
- School: Trinity (Louisville, KY)
- Composite Rating: ★★★
- Composite Rank: 73 (CB)
The former Louisville commit, Burns–who pledged to the Cardinals in March–never planned on ending up anywhere other than home.
Then the Buckeyes came calling.
Kerry Coombs offered the Kentucky star on December 4th and immediately the 6-foot-2, 175-pounder began looking at dates to visit Columbus.
That trip came only two weeks ago, but it was enough to make things very murky for Burns' future and his commitment to Louisville.
From the Louisville Courier-Journal:
Burns never thought he would get a chance to play for Ohio State, so it was a big deal for him when he did, in fact, receive a scholarship offer from the Buckeyes late last season. And after he thought his official visit to Ohio State a couple weeks ago went, in his opinion, better than the one he had at Louisville a week earlier, he switched his commitment to the Buckeyes.
Just hours after making his trip to see Ohio State, Burns decided he wanted to be a Buckeye.
"My dad wanted me to get away from Louisville," Burns told Eleven Warriors. "I started feeling the same way after going through my visit. I just explored each school, wrote down my pros and cons of the schools and sat down with my parents. We talked what's best for me and made my decision from there."
Ohio State wanted the versatile Burns, who bring exceptional but raw athleticism to the Buckeye, at defensive back, where his length and speed make him an asset.
"He's bigger than I thought," one source close to the Buckeyes shared about Burns. "He's a legit 6-foot-2 and a good athlete, plus he's fast. He has a lot of tools."
The story doesn't end there. Burns had flipped his commitment from Louisville to Ohio State but the Cardinals weren't relenting. They were back in home with the two-way star three days later.
"Louisville is coming by Thursday," Burns added, saying the Buckeyes had nothing to be concerned about. "I'm really confident on where I want to go."
Monday, two days before signing day, Burns was singing a slightly different tune.
He hasn’t made up his mind exactly where he’ll sign, and he doesn’t plan to tell anyone as he works through the process. He isn’t sure he’ll reach a final decision until Wednesday.
“I’m just going to wait, and everyone is going to see on signing day,” Burns said. “It weighs on me every day."
According to multiple 11W sources, Burns had made up his mind to change his commitment back to Louisville. Yesterday, after 24 hours of rumors and phone calls and sorting out his feelings on the matter, Burns tweeted out a final decision: he was sticking with Ohio State.
Not Flipping
— RoddyB__ (@NextBig_Thing10) February 2, 2016
The seventh of 14 children, Burns told Eleven Warriors that among the reasons Ohio State was the choice was the chance to change the lives of his brothers and sisters.
"There's no pressure," Burns said. "I'm just trying to be the one they look up to. Especially the younger ones."
