2003 (Spring): Dedicated himself to coming back from the third ACL surgery of his career...spent a lot of time in the weight room and has gotten bigger and stronger...coaches hope he can bounce back and compete for the starting quarterback job.
2003 (Sophomore): Opened the year as the starting quarterback but suffered a right ACL tear at Indiana State (9/6) that sidelined him for the rest of the season...completed 18-of-31 passes in that game, good for 139 yards, but he was sacked three times, one of which caused the injury...first FIU quarterback in school history to throw for over 1,700 yards in a career.
2002 (Freshman): A first-team All-Independent selection and the only freshman quarterback to be nominated for All-America honors by The Sports Network...a true freshman who tossed 14 touchdowns (best among all freshmen quarterbacks in I-AA) and completed 113 passes for 1,652 yards...had a four-touchdown afternoon vs. Albany (11/9) when he completed 17 passes, good for 243 yards, after which he was named as the Independent Offensive Player of the Week...posted four multiple-touchdown games and only twice (against nationally-ranked Western Kentucky and Maine) did he throw more than one interception in a game...threw for more than 250 yards twice, with his best outing being a 258-yard performance vs. Butler (9/14)...ranked among the nation’s Top-25 in passing efficiency all season long...the Internet service Dopke.com named Burke its NCAA Division I-AA Freshman of the Year and Independent I-AA Performer of the Year...ran for one touchdown, a six-yard scramble in the program’s inaugural game against Saint Peter’s (8/29)...his longest touchdown pass of the year went for 69 yards to wide receiver Harold Leath against Jacksonville (10/31)...he also hooked up with Leath on a 68-yard TD vs. Elon (9/7)...14 touchdown passes on the year were completed to six different receivers, with Leath and Cory McKinney catching four each...despite being sacked 38 times on the year, threw for more than 100 yards on eight occasions and tossed touchdown passes in seven of the 11 games played...responsible for 8.36 points per game, which ranked him 68th nationally in Division I-AA...one of the team’s inaugural season co-captains...suffered a left shoulder dislocation in the final game of year at Florida Atlantic (11/23) that required off-season surgery.
Cardinal Mooney High School: Highly-recruited quarterback who threw for school records of 2,835 yards in 2001 and led the state with 34 touchdown passes for head coach Mike Dowling...voted the runner-up Class 2A Player of the Year...became the first player in state history to pass for more than 500 yards in a game, as a senior vs. St. Petersburg Catholic...USA Today Old Spice 2001 Red Zone Player of the Year...voted Class 2A second-team all-star...Gridiron Greats 2001 Team Elite...PrepStar Magazine 2001 all-region team selection...named Student Sports National High School Athletes’ Player of the Week on Oct. 17...Street & Smith’s 2001 High School “Prep Senior to Watch”...sat out his junior season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee...pitched for the varsity baseball team as a freshman, compiling a 3-1 record as a starter and helping Cardinal Mooney to the district 3A championship.
Personal: Born November 1, 1983...son of Robert and Cindy Burke...family’s athletic history includes Andy Robert Elmer Wyant (cousin of grandfather) who is noted by Ripley’s Believe It or Not as having played more minutes of college football than any man in history: four years at Bucknell and four more while earning a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, going both ways and never missing a minute of play... chose FIU over interest shown by Florida, Pittsburgh, Marshall and Bowling Green...undecided major.
Year Att-Comp-Int TD Pct. Yards Long
2002 195-113-11 14 .579 1652 69
2003 31-18-0 0 .581 139 34
Totals 226-131-11 14 .580 1791 69
