PULLMAN — Southern California traffic permitting, it takes less than an hour to travel from Arthur Burns’ old high school to the Rose Bowl.
On Saturday, however, Burns might feel light years removed from his high school glory days when the Washington State Cougars face UCLA at Pasadena’s fabled Rose Bowl.
Two years ago, Burns was the star of stars. He was a highly recruited running back who ran for more than 1,800 yards when Centennial High of Corona went 15-0, won the California Division I championship and finished the year ranked second in the nation by USA Today.
Today, Burns is a struggling linebacker on a struggling team. Burns’ limited prior experience at linebacker came in middle school.
“It’s kind of hard adjusting to all the things that we’re doing,” Burns admits.
The position change has not been made easier by the fact that Burns still believes he could star at running back. Washington State has one of the weakest running games in the nation.
“I feel I could have been a feature running back,” he said. “I don’t know. It would have been nice to even get a chance to try.”
The 5-foot-11 Burns, who said he weighs 9 pounds more than his listed 206 after rebounding from a summer illness that cost him 24 pounds, said he’s working hard at his new position. He hears encouraging words from coaches.
“They say I can be really good at it if I really focus,” he said.
“He’s got a great future here,” linebackers coach Travis Niekamp said.
Burns said he was so upset about being moved to linebacker late last season (when he redshirted) that he considered transferring or quitting football altogether. The personable youngster changed his mind after consulting with his family.
“I couldn’t leave my friends,” said Burns, a mechanical engineering major who hopes to design sports cars. “We all came in and invested in the summer (voluntary workouts) last year.
“It’s like, ‘OK, we’re all going to come here. We’re going to change (the football program). We’re not going to leave, no matter what.’ ”
Burns’ bunker mentality serves him well at Washington State, where the Cougars have lost 25 of 29 games under third-year coach Paul Wulff. Burns is one of nine freshmen on the two-deep on defense, which helps explain why the 1-3 Cougars are giving up 43 points and 496 yards per game.
“I definitely feel like we can turn this program around,” Burns said.
Niekamp said Burns is “doing a great job” on special teams. That’s where Burns has seen most of his action, although he is listed as the No. 2 strong-side linebacker. He’s played in all four games and has three tackles.
“He has some good days and he has some bad days, which is to be expected,” Niekamp said. “That’s to be expected of a freshman who’s not played linebacker his whole life.”
Burns is well aware that one of his Centennial teammates, Arizona State linebacker Vontaze Burfict, was the national Freshman Defensive Player of the Year last season. Another high school classmate, Taylor Martinez, is the star quarterback at sixth-ranked Nebraska.
Rivals.com ranked Burns the 39th-best college prospect among senior running backs in high school in 2008. Burns was a first-time starter as a senior after backing up Parade All-American Ryan Bass, now redshirting at Idaho after playing last year at Arizona State, on Centennial’s state runner-up team in 2007.
Scout.com ranked Burns No. 1 among WSU’s California recruits in 2009, ahead of current starting quarterback Jeff Tuel. Burns remembers playing against Tuel’s Fresno high school team when both players were seniors.
“We beat ’em pretty bad,” Burns said with a smile.
The Cougars run the risk of getting beat “pretty bad” if they don’t play well Saturday against a 2-2 UCLA team coming off a dominating performance at then-No. 7 Texas. Burns hopes he has a say in the outcome, and he was making plans to remind good buddy and former Centennial teammate Ricky Marvray (a UCLA starting wide receiver) that he’s now on defense.
“I’ll just say I’m coming for him,” Burns said with a laugh. “I love ya, but it has to happen.”
