FSU Football: Brian Burns leaving was expected, but still hurts

FSU football will be sending another star defensive end to the pro game, but you wish this star would have stuck around for one more season.

It was the least shocking news of the 2018 season for the FSU football team: Brian Burns, a star studded defensive end who came in and got double digit seasons during his freshman year and did it against last season as a junior, announced that he was forgoing his eligibility with the Seminoles and heading to the NFL Draft.

Now, no one can blame Burns for deciding that he did all that he could in the college game – finishing the year with a losing Seminoles team as a first team ACC selection and positioning himself to be a first round pick this coming April by one of the 32 professional teams out there.

Still, this one hurts more than some of the recent big name defections to the pro game. Yes I know that recent years have seen star FSU football players like Dalvin Cook, Derwin James and others head to the pro games despite having some time left in Tallahassee.

It hurts because now the Seminoles are in the process of rebuilding after the first losing season in over a decade. While Cook was an amazing running back, you still had Jacques Patrick in the arsenal and Cam Akers coming in – not saying either was on Cook’s level, but it wasn’t a huge drop off and FSU football was coming off a double digit win season.

Come 2019, the Seminoles are going to need all the leadership they can get from a roster of players that seemed to be in need of it last season. The defensive end position has good players like Josh Kaindoh, but having Burns back to lead that entire unit – and maybe the entire team – would have been a game changer for the Seminoles.

Like I said, everyone saw this coming and I will NEVER fault someone from getting their money right and capitalizing on the chance to make millions in the pro game – but the selfish part of me as a FSU football fan always held out that hope that Burns would shock the world and stay for his senior season.

I had a chance to cover Burns while he was a high school star in South Florida and when he chose FSU football, I could not have been happier not just because of the talent but because of the type of person the Seminoles were getting. Now, we will watch as he represents the Noles well at the next level.

Congrats to you, Brian – the entire FSU football nation thanks you for all you did and being one of the best to put on the garnet and gold.