The Tape

• Position: Linebacker
• Age: 23
• Height: 6’ 3”
• Weight: 233 pounds
• 40-yard Dash: 4.59 seconds
• Vertical Jump: 39.5”
• Broad Jump: 10’ 11”
• Bench Press: 18 reps at 225 pounds

The Roots

Oren Burks grew up in Fairfax Station, Virginia, a town on the far southwestern reaches of the Washington, D.C. metro area.  He grew up a young man driven by his parents to succeed both in the classroom and on the field of play.  His sister Whitney is a Division I college softball player at Stanford University.

He attended South County High School where he was a defensive standout at linebacker.  As part of some very successful teams during his prep career, Burks put up huge numbers as a linebacker and also displayed a great knack for special teams play with several blocked punts.  He earned first-team all-state honors in Virginia as a senior in high school.

His stellar play as a prep defender drew recruiting interest from several east coast schools that included Boston College, Syracuse, Miami, Maryland, Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.  Big Ten schools like Purdue, Penn State and Nebraska also showed interest in Burks.  In the end, Burks chose to play for the Commodores program at Vanderbilt University.

Upon entering the Vanderbilt program and redshirting his freshman year, Burks began making an impact on the team immediately during his redshirt freshman year.  His career as a Commodore started with Burks playing safety.  At the position for his first two seasons, he recorded 37 tackles and seven pass breakups as a redshirt freshman and 58 tackles, two tackles for loss, three interceptions and six pass breakups as a sophomore. 

Following his sophomore year, Burks was moved to a hybrid linebacker/safety role where he immediately excelled on the field in the always tough SEC.  Upon starting 10 of 13 games his junior year, Burks recorded 59 tackles, six and a half tackles for loss, three and a half sacks, one interception and six pass breakups.  He would build on those numbers for his final year with the program where he posted 80 tackles, seven tackles for loss, one sack, one interception and four pass breakups. 

While certainly impressive on the field during his collegiate career, Burks excelled as well as a student-athlete and showed impressive talents off the field as well.  During his junior season, Burks was named to the Allstate-AFCA FBS National Good Works Team for his work he displayed within the community.  He was also a finalist for the distinguished Wooden Citizenship Cup Award as a collegiate athlete in 2017, awarded to one professional, one college and two high school students each year who display character, teamwork and citizenship.

His work in the community involved volunteering with Project Safe and Soles4Souls.  He was the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at Vanderbilt and was also a co-founder of a group called REVAMP (Revitalizing and Empowering Vanderbilt’s African-American Male Population).  Burks graduated from Vanderbilt in the fall of 2017 with a degree in Human & Organizational Development.

Following his senior season, Burks worked out at the NFL Combine and was drafted by the Packers 88^th overall in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

The Future

As a football player, Burks joins the Packers as an athletic and versatile linebacker.  His scouting strengths are his athleticism, range, speed and his ability to play with toughness.  Playing a distinct hybrid role during his final two seasons with Vanderbilt, he displayed that he can handle coverage duties and rush the passer as well.  His leadership abilities both on and off the field are highly noted as well.

The scouted weaknesses coming into the NFL for Burks were his inexperience playing inside linebacker, inability to get off of blocks and a need to tackle more consistently at the NFL level. 

Burks was showcased all over the field during his senior season.  He lined up at inside linebacker, slot corner, EDGE rusher and free safety and showed the ability to be effective anywhere on the field.  How this translates to the NFL level may rely heavily on the Packers coaching staff.  Most see him as a hybrid player built for sub-packages and nickel/dime passing situations.  His pure athleticism could prove to be a huge addition to the middle of the Packers defense if he picks up things up handily during his first year with the team.

With the physical part of the game to be determined for his future with the Green Bay Packers, there is no doubt that Burks has the kind of mind it takes to play at the NFL level.  Being smart, a true leader off the field and a great all-around human being will help his teammates latch onto him and give him a leg up on the playbook and classroom portions of playing at the NFL level.  Hearing his story and researching him further has definitely made me a much bigger fan of Oren Burks entering the 2018 season.  If you have a free moment, his website is also worth your time as well.