Jager Burton: Meet the Kentucky Football Rookies

You’ve seen their recruiting profiles and watched their high school highlight reels. Now it’s time to meet Kentucky football rookies that will be making plays at Kroger Field for years to come. After profiling wide receiver Chris Lewis, it’s time to hear from one of Lexington’s finest, Jager Burton.

Gains

What makes Jager Burton an exceptional talent is his athleticism. A four-star athlete from Frederick Douglass High School, he was the top-ranked football prospect from the state of Kentucky and top 150 player overall. Few players his size can move so well in open space.

How do you make speed and agility more lethal? Add size. Burton enrolled in January weighing 270 pounds. He gained 35 pounds over the last eight months. Now 305, the true freshman looks like a starting guard in the SEC.

Jager Burton’s Next Step

Burton climbed the first mountain, bulking up to withstand the physical toll of playing in the trenches in the SEC. Now he is tasked to learn a new style of blocking. Douglass previously employed Eddie Gran’s inside zone scheme. It will still be used at Kentucky, but the Wildcats are opening it up more with wide zone, pin and pull, and more. It’s new, but Jager loves running the outside zone.

“I like it a lot better. That’s one of the things I really wanted to do in college, is be able to open and run,” Burton said. “That’s kind of why I had Oregon up in the schools I was considering because they run, the Pac-12 runs. Luckily, it worked out where I got to stay home and run. I’m excited about it.”

Burton’s skillset is suited perfectly for wide zone schemes. He has all of the tools. Now it’s a matter of executing it consistently.

“It’s hard to adjust to the speed of the game in college, where in high school you’ve got like five seconds to figure out what you’re going to do before the play. Here it’s like two. You’ve got to really think. They can move one second before the snap and you’re still supposed to know what to do, so it’s really getting to where I can automatically know what I have to do without having to be like, ‘Am I sure that’s what I’m supposed to do?'”

Help from Upperclassmen

To become more comfortable at right guard, he is receiving plenty of help from the old guys. Austin Dotson, Darian Kinnard, Eli Cox and particularly, Luke Fortner, have shown Jager the ropes.

“They’re all really welcoming. There’s no hazing stuff that you hear about at other schools,” Jager Burton said. “Everyone’s really nice. You’re never scared to ask someone, Hey Luke, can you come in and teach me how to watch film? Hey DK, can you teach me how to run wide zone? Hey Dotson, can you teach me how to run tight zone? They’re really welcoming and nice to everyone. I’m really happy I came here.”

Thanks to Fortner, Jager has a better chance at receiving snaps this fall. The veteran right guard has kicked over to center, paving the way for Eli Cox to take the starting role. Jeremy Flax could move down from tackle to guard for some snaps, but when you see the week one depth chart, Burton will likely be one of only two or three true freshman on the two-deep.