This Tight End is Making His Push to Becoming Arizona's Starter
When a new head coach takes over a program like what happened with Arizona, there are some opportunities for players to impress the new staff and be considered for larger roles heading into the upcoming season.
In this new transfer portal era, there is normally massive roster turnover whenever there is a change of leadership, but that wasn't really the case for the Wildcats.
Brent Brennan was able to keep many of the established stars on this roster even after they entered their names into the portal and heard pitches from other schools around the country who tried to woo them into joining their programs.
While much of the attention was given to Tetairoa McMillan, Noah Fifita, and Tacario Davis deciding to stay, and for good reason, there was also another player who Brennan was able to keep with Arizona.
Tight end Keyan Burnett was a highly-touted recruit coming out of high school who Jedd Fisch landed in the 2022 class. The four-star appeared in nine games his true freshman season, getting one start, and earned an expanded role last year by appearing in all 13 games.
His numbers didn't blow anyone away, only catching three balls for 34 yards, but the talent is clear.
Now, the junior is auditioning for a starting role this season, and based on some reports coming out of camp, it sounds like he could be the leader in the clubhouse to earn that spot.
"Keyan Burnett continues to impress and there's a very real chance that he will be the starting tight end of the season opener ... Burnett is the most athletic of the bunch .... The key with Burnett is that not only is he now making the routine plays, but he is able to extend that ability to making plays that are much more difficult. Combine that with his improved blocking and offensive recognition and you get a player that is ready to make a major jump forward this season," writes Jason Scheer of 247Sports.
If he is ready to take the next step, then that is huge for this Wildcats team.
Scheer also notes that Roberto Miranda is having a good camp, and that's not even mentioning transfer addition Sam Olson who followed Brennan from San Jose State.
Having Burnett become the player evaluators expected him to be out out of high school when he was ranked as the No. 7 tight end prospect in his class would give this offense another major weapon.
This seems like a camp battle that everyone within the program is monitoring, and right now, the 6-foot-6 playmaker seems like he is emerging as the top guy at his position.
BRAD WAKAI