Countdown to Kickoff: No. 35
Joe Burns
The countdown to kickoff is officially on as Georgia Tech‘s season-opening matchup at Colorado on Aug. 29 is less than 100 days away.
Until then JOL will be counting it down with one Jackets’ player daily that wore the corresponding number of days remaining until toe meets leather in Boulder.
With it now 35 days until kickoff in Boulder, today’s focus is on No. 35 Joe Burns, who ran into the record books at Georgia Tech during his four years with the program and ranks in the top 10 in Jackets’ history in career rushing touchdowns, single-season rushing touchdowns and career rushing yards.
Burns chose Tech in the recruiting class of 1998 over several other college offers after a making his case as one of the all-time greats at tradition-rich Thomas County Central High (Ga.) in Thomasville where he ran for more than 4,500 yards and 56 touchdowns over his final two prep seasons. He was a part of three state championship teams there and was a two-time Class AAA Georgia Player of the Year.
Burns was inserted into the running back rotation as a true freshman that following Fall and ran for 474 yards on 98 carries with five touchdowns. He was expected to take another step the following season before an injury cost him most of 1999 for the Jackets.
Burns rebounded in a big way during the 2000 season with 908 yards on the ground on 220 carries with 12 touchdowns to go along with 242 yards receiving on 26 catches and a touchdown and followed that up with a monster final season as a redshirt-junior in 2001 when he rushed for 1,165 yards on 282 carries with 14 touchdowns and caught another 28 passes for 249 yards and a touchdown.
Burns finished decided to declare for the NFL Draft following that redshirt-junior season that he earned an All-ACC First-Team selection for and still ranks fifth all-time at Tech in career rushing touchdowns (31), tied for fifth in single-season rushing touchdowns (14 in 2001) and tied for 10th in single-season rushing touchdowns (12 in 2000) and eighth in career rushing yards (2,634).
Burns ended up going undrafted in the 2002 NFL Draft but signed with the Buffalo Bills as a free agent and played there for four seasons before his retirement. He played in 58 total games in his NFL career with one start and ran for 193 yards on 64 carries.
Following his time in the NFL coming to an end, Burns pursued several business ventures and gave back to young football players by co-founding Rising Seniors.com and later the Georgia Junior Bowl, which was a postseason all-star game that gave the chance for the top rising seniors in the state of Georgia to put their skills on display and help them earn college scholarships.
Burns was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2015, the Thomasville-Thomas County Sports Hall of Fame in 2021 and the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame in 2024.
