Burney working to schedule visits

Palm Beach Gardens (Fla.) three-star running back Roshard Burney has taken just one official visit so far, traveling to West Virginia earlier this season.

"West Virginia was a real good atmosphere," Burney said. "I like the coaches. It felt like home and made me want to go there. I talked to the running backs coach a lot, Coach (Robert) Gillespie and he said I could come in, work hard as a freshman, and get some early playing time."

His next visit could possibly be this weekend at Illinois.

"I haven't scheduled my trip to Illinois yet, but we are trying to for this week, when they play Wisconsin game," Burney said. "It is going to depend on what time kickoff is. If the game is at 3:30, then I can fly up there and get there by noon, but if it is earlier it would be difficult. I hope I can make it up there."

The reason for the difficulty with travel arrangements for Burney is that his high school team will be playing their opening round playoff game on Friday evening. With the Wisconsin game time announced as noon, it appears unlikely that he will be making the visit this weekend.

At this stage of the process, four schools are at the top of the pile for Burney.

"There are West Virginia, Illinois, Purdue, and Cincinnati," Burney said. "Those are the main schools I like. I don't know what schools might offer me at the end of the season."

While the 5-foot-10, 205-pound back is hoping find his future home sooner rather than later, he says his primary focus is leading his team to a mid-December visit to Orlando to play for a state championship.

"I am just worrying about my team right now," Burney said. "I want to get into the playoffs and help my team make a run at a state championship.

"After that I will worry about taking some more visits," Burney added. "I want to definitely take one to Illinois. I also think I may take one to Purdue and Cincinnati."

At this point in the process, Burney says the Mountaineers stand out but he isn't in a rush to name them an outright leader.

"Right now I don't really have a leader but since West Virginia is the only school I have visited I would say they stand out," Burney said. "They showed me everything first. I just want to go to another school and compare things. So it may change."

On his senior season, Burney had 238 rushes for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns.