NC State big man DJ Burns Jr. gained national attention as a fan favorite throughout the improbable Final Four run, displaying a unique combination of size and agility and dominating opponents’ frontcourts. That physical profile, according to Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy, caught the attention of NFL general managers, who said there would be legitimate interest in Burns should he elect to pursue a career in professional football.
Such an indirect path to the NFL is a rare occurrence, but Burns would not be the only basketball-first athlete to shift his focus towards the gridiron. National recruiting analyst Cooper Petagna and director of scouting Andrew Ivins hypothesized on the 247Sports Football Recruiting Podcast what Burns brings to the table should he try his hand at football.
“It’s a real thing, 6-foot-9, 275 pounds” Petagna said. “I went back, I watched the highlights this morning. Big body that can move. Those guys are really hard to find. And it doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve taken a snap of live-action football or not; these guys are going to find you. I don’t think it’s that crazy that NFL teams actually have some interest in him.”
The blueprint for a college basketball-to-NFL transition is already in place, and one prospect followed that path as recently as last year when Jake Witt came off the draft board in the seventh round. The former Michigan Tech basketball player transferred to Northern Michigan and took up football, later emerging as a pro prospect.
“There has been a former basketball player, limited gridiron context, that was selected last year in the NFL Draft,” Ivins said. “We go through and study all of these guys, and I remember coming across Jake Witt. Super unique story. Wasn’t at the NFL Scouting Combine. The talent evaluators were drawn to the measurables, drawn to the testing, and he ended up being a seventh-round pick. I don’t think he played as a rookie. Was on the injury reserve.”
Burns is the primary catalyst behind NC State’s March Madness success. The frontcourt sensation racked up 29 points in Sunday’s Elite Eight win over Duke and notched a 24-point, 11-rebound double-double in the Wolfpack’s Sweet 16 victory over Oakland. He shot 50% or better from the field in every postseason game except for the ACC Tournament quarterfinal.
It is not his basketball skill, though, but rather his physical tools that make him such an intriguing name among football scouts.
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“I think it just shows it’s not really a skill game when we’re talking about evaluating these guys and projecting it long-term,” Ivins said. “At the end of the day, you gotta have some genetics. And there’s, of course, going to be some exceptions to the rule, but usually that length and that size and that mass certainly is a qualifier.”
