Coming off a quiet game at LSU, Treylon Burks was back to his normal play-making self Saturday afternoon.
Despite getting banged up early and even missing a possession, Arkansas’ star wide receiver returned to the field and finished with eight catches for 179 yards and two touchdowns in the Razorbacks’ 42-35 loss to No. 2 Alabama.
Nick Saban said during the week that Burks would be a challenge to cover, comparing it to a point guard tasked with guarding a power forward who’s really fast in basketball, and Sam Pittman knew the Crimson Tide would try to accept the challenge with man coverage.
“I think he's probably beat up, but he just kept coming back,” Pittman said. “He won a lot of one-on-one matchups tonight, and KJ got the ball to him. He's a tough, great player, but a better person. I'll tell you what, he had a heck of a game tonight."
It was an uncharacteristic performance by the Alabama secondary, which doesn’t typically get torched like it did by Burks. His 179 yards are actually the fourth-most ever by an opposing player during the Saban era at Alabama.
Last week, the Razorbacks managed to get him the ball just four times for 16 yards through the air at LSU. The drastic improvement didn’t happen by accident.
“We both got in the film room and looked at the stuff we can correct,” quarterback KJ Jefferson said. “Just me and him,1-on-1, on stuff we could do to help the offense move the ball down the field. Today I just gave him a chance, and he made plays.”
Those plays helped Burks continue his climb up the UA record book. He passed Marcus Monk and George Wilson to move into sixth place on the school’s all-time receiving yards list with 2,270, plus now ranks seventh with 139 career receptions, passing Greg Childs, J.J. Meadors, Richard Smith, Anthony Lucas, Monk and Drew Morgan.
Assuming he’s healthy and able to play against Missouri and in the bowl game, Burks will almost assuredly join Cobi Hamilton (1,335 - 2012), Jarius Wright (1,117 - 2011) and Lucas (1,004 - 1998) as the fourth 1,000-yard receiver in UA history because he currently has 975. He also needs just eight catches to move into second on the single-season list for that category.
Jefferson’s Performance
Of course, Burks wouldn’t have been able to put up those numbers without Jefferson getting him the ball. His quarterback was just as impressive against Alabama, completing 22 of 30 passes for 326 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, while also adding 22 yards on the ground.
Only one other player has completed at least 70 percent of his passes for 300-plus yards with three or more touchdowns and no interceptions against Alabama during the Saban era - LSU’s Joe Burrow in his Heisman Trophy 2019 season.
