Burton breaks down five trips
Brandon Burton has finalized his official visit schedule and it all starts in early September when the four-star athlete heads to Ohio State.
The Gardena (Calif.) Serra two-way standout heads to Columbus for its home opener against Hawaii on Sept. 12.
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"It's a big factor coming off the national championship," Burton said. "They're just one of those teams you have to go check out especially them coming off the national championship."
In October, a really busy month for him, Burton heads to Oklahoma (for its game against West Virginia), Florida State (when it plays Miami) and then to Notre Dame (for the USC matchup) and all three will be important as the four-star looks at some other favorites.
"Oklahoma recruits California well," Burton said. "Coach (Dennis) Simmons, who came over from Washington State, told me he's going to keep coming after me even when he didn't know what job he was going to have. When he landed at Oklahoma he came after me hard.
"There are a lot of factors going into (Florida State). Malik Henry, Levonta Taylor are good friends of mine and they're recruiting me to go there, Isaac Nauta, all them. They gave me the opportunity to come in and play both sides of the ball and play early if I owe up to my end.
"(Notre Dame) has great academics. If you go there, you're going to get a great degree coming out of there. They're telling me they're pretty much depleted on both sides of the ball so I could come in and play both sides for them also."
Burton's final official visit will be to Alabama in early November when it hosts LSU. The Serra prospect has known Crimson Tide assistant coach Lane Kiffin since his days at USC and the two have stayed in touch even with Kiffin's move to Tuscaloosa.
"I've been talking to 'Bama," Burton said. "I talk to coach Kiffin all the time even since his time at USC. He said he's always going to be after me. I'm looking to see what they do with their offense and the productivity there because he wants me to come in and play receiver for them."
Burton's other two finalists - Arizona and UCLA - are also under serious consideration. The four-star has made frequent visits to Westwood and he recently returned from a trip to Tucson that went well.
Also playing in Arizona's favor is that Serra teammate Khalil Tate is committed there.
"The Arizona trip was so much fun," Burton said. "We were out there and we were having a lot of fun with the coaching staff, getting to know everybody, seeing the facilities.
"It was really nice. We weren't down there when a lot of students were there because they were on their break but you could tell the environment is great for college football."