With 107 left until the Razorbacks kickoff against Rice, there are a lot of things for fans to get excited about this season, but none more perhaps than witnessing yet another season of No. 16. Treylon Burks, the sophomore from Warren, Arkansas, is the Hogs' top returning receiver after 820 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in the 3-7 2020 season.
Already named by some national media outlets as a potential 2021 NFL Draft first-rounder, Burks has the chance to be the Hogs' first 1,000-yard single season receiver since 2012. The offseason departure of the No. 2 receiver in Kendal Briles' offense, Mike Woods, makes that prospect that much more possible.
ProFootballFocus recently released their rankings for the top returners at each position for this season and Burks was ranked fourth amongst the wideouts behind Ohio State's Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, and Clemson's Justyn Ross.
"Burks took his play to new heights in 2020 after being solely utilized as a deep threat in 2019 as a true freshman," writes Anthony Treash. "He improved his receiving grade from 70.5 to 88.9 this past season. Burks still made his fair share of deep plays, but he started to produce on the underneath and intermediate route trees, too.
"With his size, physicality and speed, Burks was a hard man to tackle, averaging 7.6 yards after the catch and breaking nine tackles on 50 receptions in 2020. Those traits have helped him vertically, as well. Over the past two seasons, he has been responsible for 17 receptions of 20-plus yards, the 10th-most among Power Five receivers. And he did that as an underclassman."
Ranked behind Burks are Oklahoma's Marvin Mims, Wake Forest's Jaquarii Roberson, Boise State's Khalil Shakir, Purdue's David Bell, Indiana's Ty Fryfogle and Alabama's John Metchie III.
Only one other Razorback made PFF's top 10 at their position. Texas native Jalen Catalon was ranked as the No. 9 returning safety behind Tykee Smith (Georgia), Kyle Hamilton (Notre Dame), Brandon Joseph (Northwestern), Malachi Moore (Alabama), Jaquan Brisker (Penn State), Tre Sterling (Oklahoma State), Jordan Battle (Alabama) and Bralen Trahan (Louisiana). Coming in at No. 10 is Keith Gallmon from South Alabama.
"Catalon notched a 79.0 run-defense grade and 80.7 coverage grade in Year 1, paving the way to a top-10 PFF grade among all Power Five safeties. The Arkansas product displayed fantastic vision and was seemingly always around the ball, racking up eight combined pass breakups and interceptions."
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