Heading into his third season in the NFL, former Arkansas wide receiver Treylon Burks is making waves for his impressive training camp performance with the Tennessee Titans.
In fact, one of his reps in practice on Wednesday even caught the attention of 3x Pro-Bowl wide receiver Dez Bryant, famous for his years with the Dallas Cowboys. Bryant was especially taken by Burks’ technique on a corner route.
The hope for the Titans is that the 24-year-old will find his footing this season and live up to his billing as a former first-round pick. Burks signed a four-year rookie contract worth just north of $14 million total. Through two professional seasons so far, Burks has totaled 665 yards and just one touchdown in 22 games.
Treylon Burks has dealt with a number of injury problems that have hampered his time in the pros so far, and there’s also the fact he hasn’t gotten the chance to play with an elite quarterback yet given Titans’ signal callers Ryan Tannehill and Will Levis. But he’s healthy entering the 2024 season, which might provide a clean slate for him to shine.
After the 2021 season, Tennessee traded away star wide receiver AJ Brown and selected Burks in the first round of the NFL Draft as his replacement. Brown was a fan favorite, which made the decision unpopular amongst the Titans’ faithful. The franchise also did not sign a star veteran to replace Brown, which put an undue burden on the rookie as the team’s passing attack struggled attempting to fill the void.
In the last two offseasons, Tennessee has signed big-name pass catchers in DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley. While Hopkins is likely to miss the first few games of the season with a knee strain, the presence of Ridley will help to take some of the pressure and attention off Burks, which may allow him to thrive.
Alma Mater Mix-Up Ironic Given Ole Miss Football’s Draft History
A funny mishap in the journalism world came when a Titans reporter referenced the wrong SEC school in an article about Burks’ impressive training camp performances.
“As the No. 18 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Burks has only caught 49 passes for 665 yards and a touchdown since entering the league out of Ole Miss,” the SI story reads.
Whoops! An honest mistake, and an understandable one, too. Burks is so often brought up in conversations with former Titans wideout Brown, who did go to Ole Miss. Whether it ends up getting corrected or not, it’s still funny it stayed up for multiple days after being published on Tuesday.
The typo is ironic for multiple reasons, the obvious one being the Rebels’ rivalry with Arkansas. Additionally, Ole Miss has never had a receiver drafted as high as Burks was, even with the high-octane passing offenses they’ve had under head coaches Hugh Freeze and Lane Kiffin.
The Hogs are very familiar with those units after contesting some pretty wild shootouts against the Rebels in recent years, including a 52-51 Ole Miss victory in 2021 and a 53-52 overtime win for Arkansas in 2015 that featured the iconic “Henry Heave.”
Ole Miss has had a number of high-profile pass catchers selected in the second round of the NFL Draft in recent years – Brown and DK Metcalf have both become stars, and Elijah Moore and Jonathan Mingo are both promising young talents. Metcalf’s cousins, by the way, currently play for the Razorbacks in the form of TJ and Tevis Metcalf.
Looking back a bit further to 2016, the Rebels did have a first-round wideout in Laquon Treadwell, but his selection as the 23rd overall is still bested by Burks, who went No. 18. That wasn’t even the most noteworthy story to come out of that draft class, though, thanks to the hilariously ill-timed off-field exploits of offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil.
The Titans’ media-related gaffes this week continued with defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons’ expletive-laden tirade against a radio host, for which he later apologized. NFL training camps are usually tense affairs, and it’s safe to say Tennessee is no different at the moment.
Treylon Burks Still Carrying Torch for Pro Hogs
Burks is one of two dozen Razorbacks to be selected in the first round, but is still the most recent top-round selection to come out of Arkansas. In that sense, he still acts as one of the torch-bearers for the Hogs in the NFL.
Plenty of Pro Hogs populate the professional ranks, especially noteworthy players like lineman Frank Ragnow and linebacker Dre Greenlaw – but none were the caliber of prospect as Burks was coming out of college after an 1,100-yard season.
His hometown of Warren is known for producing two things – tomatoes and wide receivers. Greg Childs, Chris Gragg and Jarius Wright are also members of that pipeline that has been so impactful for Arkansas in the last 15 years.
You can be sure that head coach Sam Pittman and wide receivers coach Ronnie Fouch used Burks and other former Arkansas standouts as examples when recruiting three-star prospect Antonio Jordan, who is set to be the next great Warren wideout. The 6-foot-6 rising senior is currently committed to the Hogs in the Class of 2025, and has a high ceiling with his athletic profile.
Perhaps Jordan can continue the tradition and star for the Razorbacks in the future.
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Highlights from Treylon Burks’ rookie season with the Titans:
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