It wouldn’t be a stretch to call Pine-Richland’s Thomas Burns one of the fastest high school athletes in the country.
But while the brother of Steelers cornerback Artie Burns could very well be a future Olympian, his college recruitment is moving much slower than he would like.
Burns and his younger brother Jordan moved to the area from Miami this summer. They live with Artie in the Pine-Richland School District. Thomas is a senior defensive back for the Rams and Jordan plays on the freshman team.
Thomas Burns made a verbal commitment to the University of Miami football team when he was a sophomore at Miami’s Northwestern High School, but he backed out of that commitment in May. While Burns is a talented football player, he is an elite track athlete. He won a Florida state title in the 300-meter hurdles in May and a month later ran the second-fastest high school time ever in that event when he finished in a blazing time of 35.25 seconds at a meet in New Mexico.
With those credentials, Burns is attracting a ton of college interest, right? Well, not quite. Burns admits that he must improve academically, and said that’s the reason many schools have not reached out to him. He’s currently being recruited in track by Mississippi State and South Carolina. He said he no longer keeps in touch with the Miami football coaches.
Burns believes he could be a two-sport athlete in college.
“Right now, I’m still deciding. I might do both,” he said.
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Burns said that Pitt has shown some interest — via brother Artie — and that he would like to attend a Pitt game this fall.
“Their coaches have been talking to my brother about me and asking if I can come to games and stuff like that,” said Burns (6 feet, 175 pounds), who forced a fumble in Pine-Richland’s win against Penn Hills last Friday.
As far as transitioning to living in Western Pennsylvania, Burns said it has gone well and that he’s “getting ready for the cold.” He added that there is one primary difference between playing high school football here compared to Miami.
“Up here, they’re competitive. In Miami, they’re competitive and fast. They’re really not that fast here. I can move around easier,” he said.
