FAYETTEVILLE — As dominant as Treylon Burks had been the first eight weeks of the season, Sam Pittman told reporters this week that he could get his star player the ball even more.
It started Saturday, when the Razorbacks came up with several creative ways for him to get touches in Arkansas’ dramatic 31-28 win over Mississippi State.
"We used him a little bit as a decoy, used him as a runner,” Pittman said. “People keep total blitzing us and all out blitzing us and KJ keeps throwing it to him. … He was ready to go. That's one we needed the week off to get him ready the way he was tonight."
Burks accounted for 102 all-purpose yards, with 63 coming on five receptions and the other 39 coming on three carries. He also attempted a pass and one of his runs came on a direct snap.
“Like I tell the coaches throughout practice every week, I’ll do whatever for the team,” Burks said. “It doesn’t matter if I have to run the ball, throw the ball, catch the ball. I just do whatever to help the team win.”
Arkansas didn’t waste any time getting creative, either. On its first play from scrimmage, Pittman and offensive coordinator Kendal Briles dialed up a trick play.
Burks took a pitch and pulled up to throw, looking for De’Vion Warren who was running open on a go route. Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, the pass was overthrown and fell incomplete, but had it been on target, it would have been a touchdown - which Pittman expected going in.
“I almost guaranteed we were going to score on the first play of the game,” Pittman said. “We were going to fair catch the kickoff, we were going to put it on the left hash, and we were going to go up 7-0. It didn't happen.”
It is actually the sixth time Burks - who played some quarterback at Warren High School - threw the ball during his collegiate career and he’s yet to complete one.
“We repped that all week long and it was money throughout practice and everything,” Burks said. “I take responsibility. I didn’t get my feet set. I just didn’t make a good pass, but it’ll get better.”
From that point on, though, good things happened when the Razorbacks called on Burks to make a play.
Later in the first quarter, he motioned into the backfield and quarterback KJ Jefferson split out into the slot. Taking the direct snap, Burks faked a pitch to Jefferson before racing 26 yards down the sideline.
He lost four yards on a doomed third-down run when he took a pitch, but also had a 17-yard run. That comes two weeks after he scored on a jet sweep against UAPB, taking it 49 to the end zone.
“I thought he ran the ball real well today,” Pittman said. “He made some key plays catching the ball, as well, but I thought he ran it well and he looked fast tonight. I thought he looked physical.”
On the play immediately after he took a direct snap, Burks was on the opposite end of a wide receiver pass, as Warren tried throwing it to him at the back of the end zone. Although he came down with the ball, he was ruled out of bounds - but replays showed it was close to being an incredible grab.
A couple of Burks’ catches that actually counted were third-down receptions on the drive that put the Razorbacks up 23-14 early in the fourth quarter, including a 14-yard touchdown.
What doesn’t show up in the box score, though, was a scuffle he was involved in on the Mississippi State bench. No flags were thrown, but it had an impact on Arkansas’ team.
“It amped us up,” Burks said. “It was just disrespectful what they did. I shouldn’t have reacted to it. I should have just got off the sideline and went back over there with my teammates, but you know, it fired us up and we did what we did.”
Another play he made that doesn’t result in any official statistics came on the Razorbacks’ game-winning drive. Facing a fourth-and-1, Burks managed to draw a holding call on Mississippi State star cornerback Martin Emerson - who also had a pass interference against him earlier in the day.
“On the holding call it was just like, I knew I had him,” Burks said. “He was beat, but his way to get me was to grab me, so I just went with the grab and fell to the ground and it worked.”
Jefferson saw the hold immediately and threw his direction to get the flag that kept the drive alive.
With his performance Saturday, Burks moved past Greg Childs - another Warren product - and into eighth place on the UA’s all-time receiving list with 2,075 yards.
