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Walk-on Burrow:
Ole Miss's loss,
Nebraska's gain
by Jim Johnston
Miisrfesippi football coach Billy Kinard made it
known last spring that he wasn't going to fool around
with walk-ons. If you didn't have a scholarship you
weren't going to play football at Ole Miss.
So Nebraska assistant coach Jim Walden, who
recruits in Mississippi, decided to do some
investigating.
Before coming to Nebraska, Walden coached high
school, .football in Amory, Miss. On Walden's 1968
high school team, a sophomore named Jimmy Burrow
started in the defensive secondary. He weighed just
118 poiunds, but led the team in interceptions.
Waltien left Amory after the 1968 season to join
iiJC
the Nebraska staff.
Burrow was switched to quarterback his junior
year and started at that position. By the time he was
a senior. Burrow had zoomed to 138 pounds. But in
the fifth game of his senior year he suffered a broken
arm which hindered his chances of being recruited by
a college team.
Walden, however, had kept an eye on Burrow.
"I knew Jimmy was capable of playing major
college football' Walden said. "He was real quick
and we liked him as an athlett, but we said we
couldn't offer him a scholarship because of his size."
So Burrow decided to attend Mississippi and was a
walk-on with the freshman team. He started every
game for the freshmen as a defensive back, despite
discouraging words from head coach Kinard.
"Coach Kinard told the freshman coach not to
start that walk-on," Burrow said, "but the freshman
coach said he was going to start the person who
deserved the job regardless if he was on scholarship or
not."
Burrow quickly was regarded as the best defensive
tn 7 , i
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1
back on the team. In fact, the Mississippi freshman
coach flip-flopped Burrow from side to side so he
could cover the best receiver on every play.
Burrow, however, still was denied a scholarship.
The situation didn't improve during spring drills.
That's when Walden became interested.
"Some of the coaches in the area told me Jimmy
was the best defensive back on the freshman team
and possibly the third best defensive back at
Mississippi," Walden said. "His folks told me he was
up to 163 pounds, but it still appeared that he wasn't
going to be given a scholarship."
Walden then approached Burrow.
"I didn't tell anybody except a couple of my
friends about the offer from Nebraska," Burrow said.
"If Ole Miss had offered me a scholarship I would
have accepted it."
But Ole Miss never made such an offer. So Burrow
accepted a full ride from Nebraska. Because he
transfered, Burrow is ineligible this year.
He has no aspirations to play quarterback at
Nebraska, but is serving as the scout team
quarterback this season.
"We couldn't ask for a better scout team
quarterback," Walden said. "He's quick and smart
and really gives our defense a true picture of what to
expect."
According to Walden, Burrow is quicker than some
triple option quarterbacks the Black Shirts will face
this season.
Nebraska linebacker Jim Branch had a difficult
time catching Burrow in the Minnesota Veer-T
offense during practice last week, but Branch
encountered less problems in the game catching
Gopher quarterback Bob Morgan.
"If we've got bad people running the scout team,
then our defense floes into Saturday badly prepared,"
Walden explained. "I think our defense is thankful
they don't have to face Jimmy in a game."
Because Burrow did not transfer within the
conference, he will have three years of eligibility after
this season.
But this year Burrow spends Monday through
Friday quarterbacking against the most vaunted
defense in the nation. His Saturdays are spent in the
stands.
"It gets boring once in awhile," Burrow admitted,
"but it sure beats sitting around at Ole Miss."
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page 8
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, October 4, 1 972
