Kentucky Football Countdown: 62 days till Kickoff

Happy Sunday, BBN. We are now just 62 days away from the first Kentucky football game of the 2022 season — and we sure are excited. Today’s countdown brings us to a familiar face with big expectations for the upcoming season.

No. 62 Jager Burton

I hope I can speak for all of the BBN when I say it’s always nice to see a Kentucky native wear the royal blue and white. Rising sophomore Jager Burton was born right here in Lexington and graduated from Frederick Douglass high school back in 2020. The four-star offensive lineman was rated one of the nation’s top-10 offensive guard prospects and considered a top 120 overall recruit by the On3 Consensus.

Burton, Kentucky’s No. 1 prospect in 2020, grew up a Wildcat fan and credited his decision to stay in the Bluegrass to help build the program. He chose Kentucky over Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Oregon. Nick Saban and the others couldn’t have been too terribly surprised, though.

Burton did make his commitment at KSBar and Grille, after all.

Burton had a highly-decorated high school career. Lettering all four years, he played both offensive tackle and defensive end in his time as a Bronco. Burton started three years at Frederick Douglass and helped his team go 44-6 during his time. His senior year, he led his team to the Class 5A state semifinals, tallying 78 knockdown blocks. The Bronco offense averaged 323 yards and 38.7 points per game that year as well.

Consequently, he went on to win the 2020 Paul Hornung Award, making him only the third defensive lineman to ever do so. He was 2020’s Co-Mr. Football along with Beechwood quarterback Cameron Hergott. He was also selected to play in the All-American Bowl.

The 6-foot-4, 280-pound brick wall redshirted in his freshman season last year. He saw action in three games, but will most certainly be expected to play a much bigger role in the upcoming season. Earlier this year, departing UK starter Luke Fortner called Burton “unreal athletic” when talking about the future of the infamous Big Blue Wall. Kentucky sure could use a breakout season from Burton this year.

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend, BBN.