Bradwell Institute football player Sterling Burns signed a letter of intent Wednesday at BI to play football at Greenville College in Illinois.
Burns served as the Tigers’ center last season and spent four years on the track team, excelling in the discus throw and shot put.
“Greenville has a football team and a track team, and I will probably walk on and do some track there as well,” he said. “I get the opportunity to play football in a place that is in a different area with different surroundings.”
Bradwell Institute offensive coordinator Chris Reese said Burns deserves the opportunity to play at the next
level.
“I am very excited for Sterling, and I know he will do well at the next level,” Reese said. “Sterling was our most physically dominant offensive lineman this season. Sterling was also our offense’s emotional leader this season. If I needed an additional voice in the huddle or on the sideline, I went to Sterling. He plays, practices and trains with passion and great enthusiasm. His work ethic is contagious. He made those around him better simply by doing the right things consistently and coming to work each and every day. The BI family is proud of Sterling and we wish him luck.”
Burns said Greenville’s coaching staff spoke to him about lining up on the defensive side of the ball, and the pre-nursing student plans to step up to that change and others, like being away from home.
“It is going to be a big adjustment, especially in the winter. They have really cold winters up there,” he said. “But I think I can make the adjustment.”
“I am very excited about Sterling’s decision to be a Panther in the fall,” Greenville defensive coordinator Trent Laune said. “Sterling comes from a great high-school program that instilled great character traits in him early on. Greenville College is a Christian college, and our football program is dedicated to integrating our faith into football. We feel Sterling will be a great fit for our program. He is a great young man and has a huge amount of potential in the coming years. We expect great things from him and can’t wait to get started working with him.”
Burns’ godmother, Barbara Weaver, said she was in the nursing industry for 39 years and will happily answer any questions Burns has as he pursues his degree, although she’s confident he will do just fine.
“He’s worked very hard and has done very well in school, academically as well as in sports, and that is a blessing,” she said. “I am proud that someone picked him up and he will be able to finish his education. And I think he will continue to do well in sports, but, more importantly, he will do well academically.”
Mother Stephanie Burns said she will fly to Illinois if needed and will always be just a phone call away. She said her son has a good head on his shoulders, and she’s proud of his accomplishments.
“It is exciting and this just opens up doors for him to get his education, first and foremost,” she said. “If he does what he was raised with … all the things I’ve instilled in him, he will do wonderful.”
“This is just amazing,” aunt Essie Copeland said. “He was raised to be a wonderful young man, and I think he is going to do the good things that make us very proud of him.”
“I plan to do the same thing I did here in high school — keep working out as hard as I possibly can,” Burns said.