Stanford leads for California DE
LOS ANGELES - Charles Burks is dressed in black shorts, a black cutoff T-shirt and a black headband, a really bad-looking dude who almost always finishes drills first and never slacks off during workouts.
Here at a Sunday workout at B2G Sports, Burks is working on his shuttle and he's blowing away the competition, faster than everyone he's in drills with and never taking any reps off.
Advertisement
The Huntington Beach (Calif.) Edison defensive end has developed a reputation as a hard worker, an unyielding competitor, and all the B2G instructors will back that statement up.
Ask anyone here about Burks and words like relentless, determined and motivated are used often. This isn't a crowd that throws out meaningless compliments, either. Players have to earn it here.
Burks likes to work hard, thrives off it, and that's why he's one of the up-and-coming players in southern California.
"I just hustle as hard as I can and I don't stop for anybody because at the end of the day I'm trying to get to college and be able to play as long as I can," Burks said. "I'm not stopping for anybody.
"We work pretty hard at Edison and here at B2G and it's just pushing myself internally not wanting to give up and going as hard as I can no matter what happens."
That grittiness and determination has helped Burks, a 6-foot-1, 230-pound prospect, earn an offer from Stanford, his early favorite.
A commitment might not be around the corner but the Cardinal is surely the team to beat. Burks has already taken two visits to Palo Alto and loves the environment.
"Stanford is definitely my No. 1 right now because of the academics of course and athletics as well," Burks said. "It's the best of both worlds. It's a beautiful campus and they're a team that's on the rise. I've been up there twice.
"I'm kind of waiting to hear if I get any more offers from other schools but definitely Stanford is sticking out a lot right now.
"I like coach (Jim) Harbaugh a lot, he's really cool. I like all the coaches up there. They made me feel really welcome when I went up there and they're a good group of people. I respect that they offered me first. I like that."
Burks, who finished with 52 tackles, 14 sacks and a fumble recovery in his junior season, said he's mainly hearing from Duke, Washington, Oregon State, San Diego State and Michigan although new schools are getting involved all the time.
The Edison standout will attend Arizona State's junior day next weekend and the Sun Devils also seem high on him. Three programs have also told Burks that there is high interest.
"Duke hopefully will offer," Burks said. "I talked to coach (Matt) Lubick on the first day they were allowed to call me and he said they're definitely very interested in me. Washington has mentioned how interested they are in me as well and Oregon State has done the same thing."