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Burks cements status as Arkansas legend

Treylon Burks had another 100-yard game Friday against Missouri.
Treylon Burks had another 100-yard game Friday against Missouri. (Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports)

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FAYETTEVILLE — If Friday was the final time he ever suits up inside Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Treylon Burks left Arkansas fans with a great last impression.

The junior from Warren caught seven passes for 129 yards and a touchdown to help the No. 25 Razorbacks to a 34-17 win over Missouri.

He hauled in a 43-yard deep ball to set up Arkansas’ first touchdown of the game and then caught a 52-yard touchdown to give it a three-possession lead in the third quarter.

“He's just a baller,” linebacker Hayden Henry said. “The guy is just a freak of nature, bottom line. He goes up and makes contested catches. One-on-one balls, he's going to win. … He's a huge spark for our offense. You get him the ball, usually good things happen.”

The performance gave Burks his sixth 100-yard receiving game of the year - breaking the UA single-season record - and also gave him 1,104 yards for the season. He’s just the fourth player in school history to reach the 1,000-yard milestone, joining Cobi Hamilton (1,335 in 2012), Jarius Wright (1,117 in 2011) and Anthony Lucas (1,004 in 1998).

Burks also has 66 receptions and 11 touchdown catches. Both of those marks are tied for second on the school’s single-season list - not that he really cares.

“I'm not even going to lie to you - I really didn't know most of them,” Burks said. “I just go out there and play for the team. It means a lot just to know I did break some of those records and set those records because I came here just to play football, have fun with my teammates…and make the University proud.”

For at least a brief moment, though, it looked like Burks might not get a chance to make a run at those records. On the Razorbacks’ third play of the game, he caught a pass at the line of scrimmage and made a man miss for an 11-yard gain.

When he was knocked out of bounds, he appeared to hurt his leg and was seen limping to the injury tent on Arkansas’ sideline. That led to an exchange between head coach Sam Pittman and trainer Dave Polanski.

“I asked Dave, ‘Where’s Burks?’” Pittman said. “He said the (injury tent). I said, ‘Go get him. We've got to get him out of there. Bad stuff happens in there.’”

Luckily for the Razorbacks, Burks has been playing through pain much of the season - first with what was believed to be an ankle injury that caused him to miss two weeks of fall camp, then with an undisclosed injury that made him limited during the bye week and finally last week at Alabama with an upper-body injury of some sort.

He has yet to miss more than a series here or there because of them, though, coming back into the game each time.

"I feel good enough to go out there and play, so I'm going to keep doing that,” Burks said after Friday’s win.

Burks not only played, but did so at a high level despite not being 100 percent.

The aforementioned 43-yard catch that set up Arkansas’ first touchdown is the one that put him over 1,000 yards for the season. He had his man beat, but had to make an incredible adjustment to come down with it.

The 52-yard touchdown put him over 100 yards in the game and was the result of Missouri going with one-on-one coverage on him. Burks said he motioned outside, which showed the Tigers were in man, and the corner didn’t back up any, so he knew KJ Jefferson would hit him on the fade.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” Burks said on Arkansas’ postgame radio show. “(I was thinking) that probably I’m fixing to score right here.”

On top of catching all seven of his targets, Burks added a yard on his two carries in the game. Even with those not gaining much, he is still averaging 8.0 yards per carry and has 1,216 all-purpose yards this season.

“He can do almost anything,” Pittman said. “He can catch the ball. He is running better routes. He can block. Obviously, he ran the option. Just a really, really talented guy and just a better kid than he is talented.”

It doesn’t show up in the box score, but the option play Pittman referenced was arguably his most impressive of the day.

Facing a third-and-short on the 7, Arkansas got creative. Burks took a handoff from Jefferson on a sweep to the right and waited until the last second to pitch it to Rocket Sanders, who just made it to the front corner of the end zone for a touchdown.

“Running that option, wasn't that beautiful?” Pittman said. “He held it long enough, pitched it to Rocket. The great thing about Burks is him doing that was just every bit as important to him as if he would've been the guy who scored the touchdown.”

In fact, Burks told reporters that the pitch to Sanders was “no doubt” more enjoyable to him than his long touchdown catch. He even joked that he was trying to teach his quarterback how to properly run the option.

Watching them do postgame interviews side-by-side, it’s easy to see the chemistry between Burks and Jefferson. Their tight friendship off the field seems to create a trust on the field.

“Being able to get the ball to a guy like him in space, or when he’s double-covered, triple-covered, just knowing that he’ll make a play (is awesome),” Jefferson said. “As long as the ball is in the air, he’ll make a play.”

A four-star recruit and top-150 prospect coming out of Warren High in south Arkansas, Burks had offers from the likes of Auburn, Florida State, LSU, Michigan and Ole Miss. He likely would have been ranked higher by recruiting services and had even more offers had he pursued those things, but he never really expressed much interest in them.

After enduring a 5-17 stretch to begin his career, Burks is savoring the Razorbacks’ top-25 season that has them at 8-4 and likely heading to a solid bowl game.

“I could have gone anywhere else, but I chose to stay here,” Burks said. “Like no other, it’s an honor to be able to play for the Razorbacks and just have the fan base and all the people’s support that we have.”

Widely projected to be a first-round pick and one of the first few wide receivers taken in the upcoming NFL Draft, Friday very well could have been Burks’ last home game in an Arkansas uniform. However, he told reporters that he didn’t even think about that and said in a postgame radio interview that he wants to finish out the season before making any decisions regarding his future.

Whether or not he declares early and skips his senior season, Burks has already cemented his status as an Arkansas legend. It sounds like opting out of the bowl isn’t an option for him, so he has at least one game left to add to that legacy.

“He's the definition of greatness,” teammate Bumper Pool said. “He's one of the greatest Hogs to put the jersey on, and I hope that everyone realizes that.”

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