He's been good, great at times. There was no doubting he would be, with his frame and athleticism luring coaches from the nation's power brokers to come see him. So maybe "breakout" isn't the right term. That would suggest Jordan Burch hasn't played up t o expectations in his first two seasons at South Carolina, and that would be misleading. The Gamecocks, and supporters who watched him grow up in Columbia and stay in town for his college football career, are waiting for him to burst forth, erupt, explod e, any of those synonyms for "breakout," as listed by Roget's. But it isn't because he hasn't been doing what they thought he'd be doing by now. It's because he's been behind upperclassmen such as JJ Enagbare and Aaron Sterling. It was because in his fre shman year, COVID threw a wrench into the season and forced everybody to adjust, and Burch also injured his hand and missed the final two games of that season.And yes, it's also because that, as strong of a prospect as Burch was when he was comple ting his all-world career at The Hammond School, he was hit by hype over which he had no control. It wasn't Burch who said, "Hey, I'm from South Carolina, I play defensive end and I'm committing to the Gamecocks, so I must be Jadeveon Clowney!" Kind of a lot to live up to - especially when it's everybody else making the comparison strictly because of that criteria, and not paying attention to how much the game has changed since Clowney played, and just how much of a larger-than-life figure he became. "W e never really talked about that. I just encouraged him to be himself. I think his skill sets are drastically different than JD's," said his coach at Hammond, Erik Kimrey, who was also a USC assistant coach last year before returning to the high-school r anks. - The Post and Courier
(DS#9 DE) rSr/2025  DE Jordan Burch, Oregon
News Source: The Post and Courier
Share/Comment: Here
|
|
|