Finally healthy, Burgess ready for productive season

Peter Ross
DM Senior Staff Writer

After battling a knee injury the past two seasons, Ole Miss senior captain Derrick Burgess looks to return to his first-year form, when he was a freshman All-American.

Burgess showed a lot of promise as a true freshman when he led the Rebel defensive line in tackles with 49 stops on his way to being named to The Sporting News Freshman All American second team and the Knoxville News-Sentinel All-SEC Freshman team. But then came the injury to Burgess' right knee, which limited his playing time over the past two seasons. Now the Riverdale, Md., native is ready to prove that he is finally healthy.

"This is the best that I have felt since 1997," the Ole Miss defensive end said. "I hurt my knee before my sophomore year and I had surgery, but the knee didn't heal right so I had to have another surgery before spring practice my junior year. I missed a lot of practice time in the past, which was good because it took stress off my knee."

Burgess shined as a 232-pound defensive tackle his freshman season before moving to his natural position of defensive end his sophomore season. At defensive end Burgess is able to not only use his strength, but his speed and athletic ability in the open field. Burgess has bulked up since he arrived in Oxford as he now weighs 270 pounds. With the lack of experience at defensive tackle, Burgess is willing to play either end or tackle.

"I would not have a problem with that," Burgess said. "I will play both if the coaches want me to. It doesn't bother me."

Burgess, along with seniors Deuce McAllister, Romaro Miller and Shane Elam, was selected by the coaches and their teammates as team captains.

"At first it didn't dawn on me because I didn't see myself as a captain, but it is a good award," said Burgess. "It says that the coaches and players have respect and think highly of me. I am not a very verbal leader as I lead more by example, but I will work this season on becoming more of a vocal leader."

Burgess' strength is stopping the run, but lately he has worked on improving his pass rush. Last season Burgess registered 4.5 sacks, but this year he would like to have at least 10.

Although the Rebels have gained a lot of national attention this off-season, the Ole Miss defense has been rated as a team weakness. Burgess said he expects the defense to hold up and is ready to prove them wrong.

"We have been working hard since that is what we have been hearing since (Kendrick) Clancy, (Armegis) Spearman, Al (Rice), Tyler (Williams), and Comone (Fisher) left. That most definitely motivates us because we know what we are capable of doing," Burgess said. "As a unit we can be even better than last year because we have the talent."

With fan expectations high, Burgess said he is ready for the season to roll around. Burgess knows the importance of each game and wants to take it one game at a time.

"I look forward to the first game," Burgess said. "Everyone looks forward to Auburn or Alabama, but I think of all of them as the same because you can't let a team sneak up and upset you. It doesn't matter how highly we are ranked in the preseason. What matters is that we are there at the end because I think that we can win the West and more."

One of Burgess' dreams is to one day play in the NFL.

"Everyone's dream when you start putting on the uniform is to one day play professionally," Burgess said. "I didn't know football was this serious until I arrived in the SEC. Playing against Tutan (Reyes), (Todd) Wade, and (Terrence) Metcalf has only made me a better player. Hopefully I will get that chance one day."

But for now a healthy Burgess said he is ready to help lead the Rebel defense.

"People don't need to worry about the defense being the weakness. You can count on us to come out really strong and we will be blazing during the season."