CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes have a long tradition of homegrown talent showcasing itself on the football field. Canes legends like Michael Irvin, Sean Taylor, Jonathan Vilma, Santana Moss and Bennie Blades are just a handful of South Florida natives who shined while donning Miami’s orange and green. Each week in the 2014 season, HurricaneSports will honor a Hurricane football player with South Florida ties as the Milam’s Market Homegrown Athlete of the Week. This week’s player spotlight is on Miami, Fla., native Artie Burns. Artie Burns has been an impact student-athlete at the University of Miami since he arrived on campus prior to the 2013 football season. Possessing a rare combination of size, elite speed and athleticism, Burns is the type of gifted talent that coaches dream of. The 6-foot, 196-pound defensive back from Miami Northwestern Senior High was recruited by nearly every college football program in the country. As a standout senior for the Bulls, Burns tallied 72 tackles, four sacks, six pass breakups, two interceptions and had two kick returns for touchdowns. Burns was a four-star recruit by ESPNU, 247Sports, Rivals, Scout and MaxPreps and was named a 2013 Under Armour All-American. Beyond his accomplishments on the football field, Burns was also the nation’s top high school hurdler. A three-time Florida State 3A 110m hurdle champion, Burns also won the 300m hurdles at the 2013 3A State Meet and had the fastest 110m and 300m hurdles times in the nation during his junior season at Northwestern. While Burns’ high school accomplishments meant that he would have lofty expectations to live up to at any university in the country, the fact that he came from a football powerhouse like Northwestern meant that he was following in the footsteps of Hurricane standouts like Melvin Bratton, Brett Perriman, Nate Webster, Vernon Carey and Sean Spence. But the high expectations did not deter Burns from wanting to become a Hurricane and follow the path of so many great Northwestern legends that went on to become Hurricane stars. Burns played in 11 of 13 games as a freshman a year ago, splitting time on defense and special teams. He recorded 17 tackles and three pass breakups, while averaging 26.1 yards on 10 kick returns. He snagged his first career interception in Miami’s road win over Pitt and forced a fumble in the Russell Athletic Bowl against Louisville. But Burns’ biggest highlight as a freshman came when he blocked a field goal that was returned for touchdown in the 27-23 road win on Oct. 17 at UNC. Following a strong freshman campaign on the football field, Burns continued to make headlines on the track. He claimed the 60m high hurdles title at the ACC Indoor Championships and broke a 38-year-old American Junior record, set by Washington’s Robert Gaines in 1976 and matched by South Carolina’s Jason Richardson in 2005. It took the Miami native just 7.68 seconds to blaze down the track at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational and into the record books, besting Gaines and Richardson’s time of 7.70 by two-tenths of a second. After competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 60 hurdles, Burns returned his focus to spring football and preparing for his sophomore season at ‘The U.’ In 2014, Burns has been a key contributor on Miami’s defense, starting seven of Miami’s eight games. He set a career high with six tackles against Nebraska and added five tackles and one pass breakup a week later against Duke. Burns recorded his first career sack and had a game-high three pass breakups in Miami’s win over Cincinnati and he had two tackles in a key road victory over Virginia Tech last Thursday. He will look to continue to make an impact this week as Miami hosts North Carolina at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 19:17:00 +0000
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