May 18, 20213 min read

MAJOR BURNS RETURNS TO BATON ROUGE: FINISH WHAT YA STARTED

by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

@LonnPhillips

Coming out of Madison Prep Academy as a Louisiana local and a Baton Rouge Tiger, safety Major Burns had a big decision to make when picking his future school...but unspeakable tragedy hit the Burns family before the young man's junior season had even begun:

While his father Tony Delmontzra tragically passed away on July 28th 2018, Major accepted the harsh reality and forged forward, making his name by the snap, raising his profile each game, and winning the respect of all who knew what the young man was really dealing with.

He turned heads left and right, becoming an SEC recruiting mainstay for the 2020 class:

Burns wasn't your typical safety....he's more along the lines of the new breed of safeties you're seeing nowadays:

At 6'2 190, Burns is yet another one of these jack-of-all-trades "pure footballers" who, while remaining DBs in profile, possess the size and stature to fill in at outside linebacker, the IQ & agility needed to take a turn at a variety of spots on offense, the spicy pace necessary to return kickoffs & punts for scores, and even the ball skills to shut it down at cornerback:

Much like 2022 5 star LSU commit Jacoby Mathews, Burns could play quarterback alongside safety...however he didn't stop there:

During his senior season at Madison Prep, Burns threw for 4 touchdown passes, caught 5 more scores through the air (averaging over 22 yards per catch), and while stationed at safety, Burns put together 30 tackles (19 solo), 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 interception (returned for a touchdown) and one fumble recovery.

Rated as the 13th safety in the country, 7th within the state of Louisiana, Burns had some top SEC suitors....still, Major had eyes only for the Tigers.

After he committed to his "dream school" during Summer 2019, it felt like Major Burns was a signed, sealed & delivered local prospect who was looking to cement his legacy by taking his hometown swagger to the national stage.

Although, like many things in LSU history, it didn't work out as planned:

Somehow, Burns decommitted from the Tigers in December, immediately drawing a bidding war between Texas A&M as well as Kirby Smart's Georgia.

First of all....it's a rarity for any Tigers' commit to change their mind....it's an even bigger "WTF" when a local Louisiana defensive back decommits....it's akin to the scene from Lethal Weapon 2 where all Danny Glover wanted to do was take a shit but instead is greeted with prolific amounts of C-4.

In the end, Louisiana's versatile safety chose Georgia, but as he came to find out quickly, the grass is never greener in Athens.

Surrounded by 14 other highly recruited DBs in UGA's stacked position room, Burns played only 2 games last year, totaling 4 overall tackles in limited time.

Now, Major is starting back from the beginning...back to where it all begin....and he's gotta lot on his mind....he has unfinished business. With his father on his mind (a die hard Louisiana sports fan), Burns is ready to return to his family and play for the school he was always destined to suit up for.

While success at UGA may have given Burns a shot at the NFL, he wanted something more from his collegiate experience....and he wasn't going to waste another rep.

This is about one thing and one thing only:

LSU = Home for Major Burns.

Just like LSU's "coulda, woulda shoulda" past checkered with people & things that "could've been" but never happened, there's also plenty of glittering examples of victory, success, heart-on-sleeve triumph and....in the present case of Major Burns, second chances.

WELCOME HOME MAJOR!

RIP TONY DELMONTZRA