(STATS) – It’s difficult for any Kennesaw State player to live up to the standard that’s been set by the first one in program history.
Senior quarterback Chandler Burks was the first high school player to verbally commit to the Owls’ program in 2013 – two years before they would debut with an FCS startup season.
“I take a lot of pride in it just because when Coach (Brian) Bohannon talked to me back in Fifth Third Bank Stadium in 2013, he sold me on a vision. That is all it was at that point and time,” Burks said. “I bought into it.”
Burks is one of three players who have been invited to the announcement of the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award at the national banquet Jan. 4 in Frisco, Texas. The others up for national offensive player of the year are senior quarterbacks Devlin Hodges of Samford and Easton Stick of North Dakota State.
Kennesaw State’s first building block has played with the strength of the foundation. Behind Burks’ lead, the Owls won Big South championships and reached the FCS playoff quarterfinals in their third and fourth seasons. The Owls also rose to a No. 2 national ranking this season.
While directing the team’s triple option running attack, Burks set the FCS single-season record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 29. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder also reached at least 900 rushing yards for the third time and threw for 10 touchdowns.
And talk about putting pressure on all the other Kennesaw State players, the two-time Big South offensive player of the year also has set the example off the field. Burks, who carried a 3.90 grade point average as an undergraduate, has won the conference’s scholar-athlete award for two straight years.
“Coach Bohannon came to that first team meeting and said, ‘You’re here for a reason and that’s to win championships.’ We all bought into the vision, culture and hard work,” Burks said. “We helped lay that foundation built around effort, attitude and toughness.”
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