DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2013 NFL Season NFL Draft (2013) Burfict bombs his pro-day workout

Burfict working hard to overcome bad reputation

Nine days before the NFL draft, Vontaze Burfict was in Las Vegas, hanging out with one of his boys from Tempe, Ariz. It was a one-day vacation for Burfict, who planned to play a little blackjack and roulette, walk the strip, and see a performance by Jabbawockeez, the hip-hop dance crew distinguished by its expressionless white masks.

There may be an analogy there. Burfict, the former Arizona State inside linebacker, might as well be wearing a mask as far as NFL scouts are concerned. For them, he has evolved into a real mystery.

Is he the strong, instinctive playmaker who last September was rated as one of the premier linebackers in the country? Or is he the guy who careened through a disappointing 2011 junior season marked by multiple flagrant fouls, and followed up with a disastrous performance at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in late February?

"You took a talented football player -- when he started college there, he was a highly recruited kid -- and he slowly regressed into this player that started to get cheap fouls and cheap penalties, and a player who had a horrible Combine workout," an AFC scouting coordinator said. "Not only the workout but the interview portion of the Combine. This is a guy who probably went from a second-round pick to no telling where he's going to fall."

The 6-foot-3 Burfict admitted he struggled to harness his anger on the field, where he had 16 personal foul penalties in his final 26 games for ASU. He also gained some weight last year, going from around 252 pounds to 259. As a result, he played heavier and slower. Although his total tackles dropped from 90 in 2010 to 69, he made seven tackles for losses and had five sacks.

At the Combine in Indianapolis, he bombed both in the drills on the field (he ran a tortoise-like high-4.9 in the 40) and during his interviews with teams. The whole process overwhelmed him.

"Man, I'm always nervous," Burfict said during a telephone conversation from his Vegas hotel room. "But at the Combine, it was a nervous like I was going to have a nervous breakdown. Especially looking up at all those coaches. For me to be in that spotlight, it was very nerve-racking."

The 21-year-old Burfict seems to have two personalities: He's aggressive and tenacious on the field -- sometimes too tenacious -- and shy and reserved off it. "I would totally agree," said Brandie LaBomme, who has been dating Burfict for two years. Sometimes when LaBomme watches Burfict buzz around on the football field, she can't believe it's the same guy she shares an apartment with in Tempe, along with their two dogs -- a Pomeranian named Puff and a Chihuahua named Chacho.

"At first, he did not like the dogs," LaBomme said. "Now, he loves them. The first thing he does when he comes home is go to the dogs and give them hugs and kisses. Then he'll say, 'Oh, hi, Babe.' "

Lisa Williams, Burfict's mom, will tell you that Vontaze has always been a shy guy. When he was a toddler and family or friends would visit and dote on him -- "Oh, Vontaze, look how much you have grown. Come over here and let me see you." -- he would hide behind his mother's legs.

Williams was in a gang with her boyfriend, Vontaze DeLeon Burfict in south L.A., when she was 22 and found out she was pregnant with Vontaze Jr., who was born on Sept. 24, 1990. Not long after that, the boyfriend was arrested and found guilty of possession of cocaine with intent to sell it. He has been incarcerated most of the time ever since, and Vontaze Jr. has never had a relationship with him.

Two of the people who have influenced Burfict most have been his uncle, Darryl Jones (Lisa's brother), and Vontaze's older half brother, DaShan Miller, 25. "Not having a dad growing up, I felt like my brother has been my brother and my dad," Burfict said. "And my uncle has helped me business-wise, life-wise because he's been around me since I was young."

Then there is Williams, who shook free of her gang affiliation, became a city transit bus driver for 15 years and raised DaShan and Vontaze as a single mom (she eventually remarried, and she and her husband have two daughters, seven and 13). Williams wanted a better life for DaShan and Vontaze -- "I didn't want to bury my kids, and I didn't want to visit them in jail," she said -- so she moved east out of urban L.A. After "pit stops" in West Covina and Azusa, they ended up settling in Corona, Calif., where DaShan became a star wide receiver at Centennial High, then went on to play college football at UTEP and Akron.

Vontaze worshipped DaShan and got introduced to football because of him. When he was an eighth grader, Vontaze worked as a water boy for Centennial's varsity team. He went to practices, traveled on the bus with the team to away games, and saw what playing football could lead to when DaShan received a college scholarship.

By the time Vontaze was a freshman, the Centennial coaches knew all about DaShan's younger brother. But Burfict's aptitude in the classroom didn't match his talent on the field, and sometimes he was academically ineligible. As a senior, his principals warned him that he was going to finish several credits short of graduating, but he made up the work and received his diploma with the rest of his class. He said graduating from high school was the biggest event of his life.

"High school was a hard four years for me," Burfict said. "For me to graduate on time was just a blessing because I wasn't the smartest guy in school. I wouldn't be who I am right now without a high school degree."

While Vontaze followed in DaShan's path -- he even wore the same jersey No. 7 as DaShan -- he and his half brother are opposite personalities.

"His brother had confidence," Williams said. "He was that dude that all the girls wanted. He was an athlete, too. Junior just kind of stood behind in his shadow. As he started to evolve himself, I was always there to encourage him. 'You can do it, you can do it.' He had to find that niche for himself, I think, and he's still searching for it."

On the plane ride home from the Combine, Burfict wallowed in regret about his experience in Indy and decided to make some changes. Instead of continuing to train in California, like he did before the Combine, he returned to Tempe and found a new trainer. He pretty much has been working out twice a day -- lifting weights, running and doing ab work -- and his weight has dropped below 250. He also has changed his eating habits.

Burfict has also been receiving some mentoring from Buffalo Bills inside linebacker Nick Barnett (the two share the same agent). At first, Burfict and Barnett talked on the phone and traded texts. Eventually, they met out in California for lunch.

"He's had some ups and downs, and knows how to take care of them because he's been in the league for multiple years," Burfict said. "So I felt like if I could contact him, he could let me know what the league is about." What did Burfict learn from talking to Barnett? "It's a business, it's teamwork, it's leadership. You have to be a role model for your community and teammates because it reflects on your coaches. It was especially good for me because a lot of people think I have a bad attitude because of the personal fouls on the field, or I ran a slow 40 at the Combine.

"I'm just real competitive, and I hate to lose. Because of the position I play ... you have to have some emotions running through your head. When I'm on the field, I play with anger and aggression; just want to hit somebody. Certain people think, He's probably like that off the field. I've never been arrested, never been pulled over for anything.

"I wish that all 32 teams could just chill with me for a day and see what kind of person I am off the field. I'm soft-spoken and shy. I'm a laid-back guy."

It's Burfict's disposition -- and production -- on the field that NFL teams are most concerned about. He's shown flashes that he can be an instinctive, smart, physical player. That combination of ingredients, plus his size, is what teams covet at inside linebacker.

"I still think he's a draftable player, probably mid-round," the scouting coordinator said. "To get somebody with some bulk and strength and size on the inside is rare. So somebody is going to take a shot at him and see if they can bring that back out of him."

Burfict is eager for some team to look under that mask. He thinks they'll be pleasantly surprised by what they find.

"Whoever picks me in the draft," he said, "is going to have a great middle linebacker."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/wr...l#ixzz1si56MtXj

I certainly respect his mother for her hard work getting out of the gang lifestyle, and getting her family into a safer environment while getting a solid job. She should be a great role model for him.

I still don't buy the whole "I was too nervous to perform at the combine" bit, but I suppose that it could be plausible. I still wouldn't draft the kid.

I think we will take a risk on a guy like Burfict late in the draft -- we have too many picks to keep them all - so the optimal strategy should be to get riskier and start grabbing boom/bust guys.

The problem I have with Burfict in this setting, is that he hurts you on the field (personal fouls) and is a liability to do this even if he gets his act together and gets in shape.

I prefer a guy like Bryce Brown - who is maybe even more likely to fail than Burfict - but at least seems to contain his failings to off the playing field.

I have no issue with taking a chance on a guy like Burfict, so long as it is not him.

They know the schedule, the know the parameters, they fail and then try to explain their way out of it... Sorry, this player has no character, and is heading down the same road as Maurice Clarett.

Give me a player who faces a challenge and overcomes the challenge everyday, not some poor pitiful me excuse....

Mister misunderstood
VONTAZE BURFICT SITS in a hotel lobby, unable to make eye contact with the man across from him. His hands sweat. His stomach twists so much it hurts. It's the middle of the combine in Indy, and when the annual scouting showcase began, Burfict was considered by many NFL execs to be the top linebacker prospect. "I'd watched the combine on TV," Burfict says. "It felt so important."

Scouts fell in love with him during his Arizona State career because he laid people out, because he played close to the line and occasionally stepped over it. Shielded by his Sun Devils helmet, he acted as though he had no fear of reprisal -- from opponents, from coaches, from refs, from fans. They don't know how nervous he was once the game ended. These coaches don't know, as they sit down to meet him, that Burfict had been shielded from reporters by Arizona State's PR team for three seasons. They don't know that before the combine, Burfict had done only a handful of interviews in his life. So his hands are sweating. And his stomach twists. And his eyes look down as he tells Bill Belichick, Yes, I can see myself playing in New England. Yes, I hope to have a great combine. Burfict didn't expect to run into the coach and have an impromptu interview in the lobby. And with Belichick straining to hear him above the din, he didn't expect to offer an answer most other hopefuls don't have to: No, I am not the dirty player people think I am.

The next day, Burfict moves on to another coach, and then another after that. He notices a pattern. No one wants to talk football. Instead, they all ask if he has anger problems, if he can adjust his temperament to the NFL. One coach wonders how Burfict would react if a sweeping offensive tackle were to hit him with a cheap shot: Would he pursue the ball or punch the lineman? God, they think I'm a monster, Burfict realizes.

It gets worse. Burfict finishes last among linebackers in the broad jump and second to last in the vertical jump. And then, in the most sacred test of all, he runs a 5.09 40, slowest for his position. Immediately he hears whispers from the sideline, sees heads shaking, feels the stares. Soon after the drills, he checks Twitter. Big mistake. "Things faster than Vontaze Burfict" is trending:

@theAdamGreen Vontaze Burfict posted a 5.1 on his 2nd 40-yard dash. Now we know the reason for all the late hits: He was just slow in getting there.

@RVAparks Who will go first in the draft? The broom from Stanford or Vontaze Burfict?

@JarrettGC Vontaze Burfict's draft chances are so slim, they just started dating Brad Pitt.

Before he leaves the combine, Burfict will be in a draft free fall, costing him millions. He feels as though he doesn't belong. I'm done, he thinks.

ONE PHOTOGRAPH HAS become symbolic of Burfict's play -- it is the first image that comes up when you Google his name, and it accompanies his Wikipedia entry. Last September, with USC visiting Tempe, Burfict crept toward the line of scrimmage in the game's opening drive. Stopping just short of USC center Khaled Holmes, Burfict pointed a black-gloved finger straight at Matt Barkley, the Trojans' quarterback. It's just you and me out here, Burfict's gesture said. And I'm coming for you.

In the week leading up to that game, Barkley had called Burfict dirty. He said the cheap shots had gone back to their prep days, when Barkley, a star QB at Mater Dei, lined up across from Burfict, an All-American at Centennial High in nearby Corona, Calif. Burfict was not pleased, and he made his presence known with five tackles in a 43-22 upset win. He also picked off his only pass of the season, in the second quarter, and returned the ball 36 yards. He was tackled at midfield by Barkley. Afterward Burfict walked over to the QB, helped him to his feet and patted him on the helmet. A Google search returns zero photos of that.

There is no question: Burfict has earned his rep. He loves to hit, loves to bulldoze through anyone who gets in his way. He had an astonishing 16 personal fouls in his last 26 games. "On the field, I become confident in everything I do," Burfict says. "I want to be that guy outside of football; I try to be, but in the back of my head, I hear no."

[+] EnlargeVontaze Burfict
Cody Pickens for ESPN The MagazineBurfict's mom, Lisa Williams, a former gang member, encouraged Burfict to return to football after his dreadful combine performance.

He has always been this way, living at the extremes, in the way a lot of football players say they do. But few have done it as extreme as Burfict. As a kid, Vontaze was chubby, which made him more reserved than even his natural disposition. He grew up in the shadows of his mom, Lisa, a gregarious city bus driver, and his half brother DaShan, four years his senior. DaShan was the athletic one, the good-looking one, the one Vontaze always measured himself against. "I've been shy since I was little," Burfict says. "I try to fight through it, but it's hard."

In their hometown of Corona, DaShan starred in high school, eventually playing wide receiver at UTEP and Akron. But Vontaze was too big to play with kids his age in local leagues. "I was 11 and they wanted to put me with 16-year-olds," Burfict says. Instead, he learned the game from DaShan and his uncle Darryl, Lisa's brother, on the front lawn of his grandma's house.

"We spent a lot of holidays on that grass playing football," Darryl says. "Ninety percent of the time, he would hurt somebody. He wasn't trying to, but he was aggressive. We'd tell him, 'You can't play that rough.' He'd get mad and pout a little, but he'd try to listen."

LISA LIKES TO say she's from the hood but her kids are from the suburbs. She grew up in South Central LA in the 1980s, when gang violence first drew national attention. And she and her boyfriend, Vontaze DeLeon (Lonnie) Burfict, were bona fide bangers. "Being his girl, I had to uphold an image," Lisa says. When she was 22, she found out that she and Burfict were going to have a baby. Vontaze Jr. was born on Sept. 24, 1990. A couple of months later, Lonnie, who had gone to Texas with some friends, was arrested and found guilty of possession of cocaine with intent to sell. He has been in and out of jail ever since and currently is serving a 25-year sentence for drug-related offenses. Vontaze Jr., who briefly saw his father when he was 15, says they have no relationship.

Lisa struggled to support two sons on her own. She leaned on friends but soon realized the only way to make her life better was to start over. She moved her family east, ultimately settling in Corona and moving in with her mom. But the suburbs didn't provide the shelter Lisa had hoped for. In Corona, with a population that's 44 percent Hispanic and 6 percent African-American, a Latino gang called the Vatos Locos terrorized black students. Burfict was a freshman at Centennial High when the gang chased down his teammate, Dominic Redd, stabbing him 13 times on his porch. "It could have been any one of us," Burfict says.

After Dominic died, Burfict's mother and his grandmother drove the boy to and from school. When he did walk, he kept his head down, sure not to make eye contact with anyone he encountered along the way. He became even more reserved. "He was this big freshman, but he didn't say a lot," says Shelly Lyons, a teammate who would become one of Burfict's best friends. "I moved to Corona right after Dominic's death, and the other players were angry. But it brought us all closer together and made us stronger. We look at each other as brothers."

Lyons, Burfict and their friend Brandon Magee made a pact: They would respond not with revenge but by succeeding, beginning with Friday nights. Burfict -- already six feet and 180 pounds as a freshman -- was no longer worried about lining up against older kids. He played with violence, earning comparisons to a young Ray Lewis. In his junior season, he led the team with 130 tackles, and as a senior he was first-team All-American.

The recruiting letters had started to pile up, first from Colorado and Minnesota, then UCLA, Arizona State and USC. Burfict had dreamed of playing close enough for his family to drive to games, and he liked USC's then-coach, Pete Carroll. And in 2009, the Trojans were about to lose four linebackers to the NFL draft. Burfict verbally committed to USC but then reconsidered after his official visit. "We came back from the Army All-American game, and five USC coaches were at school looking for him," remembers Matt Logan, Burfict's high school coach. "USC was high pressure. It was overwhelming, and it freaked him out."

[+] EnlargeVontaze Burfict
AP Photo/Ben LiebenbergBurfict ran a 5.09 40 at the combine, the slowest in his position.

Arizona State, on the other hand, played it cool. "They did their homework," Logan says. The Sun Devils sent fewer coaches to recruit. They knew that Burfict had struggled in school, so they introduced him to the academics coach on campus. And ASU had one more advantage: Magee and Lyons were already freshman linebackers there. "My brothers went here," Burfict says. "We could tell each other anything and it would stay between us, and they would teach me and show me the rules so I wouldn't go to college looking like a fool."

Burfict masked his self-doubt with a tenacity that immediately challenged his new teammates. His practice style was game speed, every play. "I loved how he practiced and played those first two years," says former ASU head coach Dennis Erickson, who was fired at the end of last season. ASU went 4-8 in Burfict's freshman year, but he started nine of 12 games and was second on the team with 69 tackles. He led the 6-6 Sun Devils the next season with 90 stops and was an All-American, but he burnished his bad-boy rep with 10 personal fouls in 12 games. "We had too much talent to be losing, and I couldn't control my frustration," Burfict says. He became the most feared defensive player in college football, in no small part for those flagrant penalties: 22 in 37 career games. He was in some sense still the boy who pouted and got angry in Grandma's yard.

That combustible reputation followed him off the field. "I would get tips all the time from anonymous emailers saying Burfict was in a bar fight or arrested for beating someone up," says Doug Haller, who covers ASU football for the Arizona Republic. "I checked out every one, and they were never true. He was never in any trouble." Truth is, Burfict spent most Friday and Saturday nights at home playing video games and his Sundays at church. "If he had talked to the media, they would have seen that he's funny and considerate and has a great laugh," says Corinne Corte, ASU's academics coach for football. "It was just too uncomfortable for him."

Before his junior year, Burfict and ASU set about repairing his image. The school sent a tape to the Pac-12, citing incidents in which they believed refs targeted Burfict unfairly. Erickson also asked his linebacker to tone down his play. Burfict had gained weight, going from 250 to 260 pounds, convinced the extra baggage would make his legal hits feel more lethal. Instead, "it slowed me down," Burfict says. "I was breathing heavy by the ninth play of the drive."

As his stats declined and the team struggled, Burfict fought to keep his emotions in check. "He wanted to do the right things," Erickson says. "But it took away from how he plays the game." He shut down to the point that he was barely communicating with coaches at all. Against Cal in the Sun Devils' regular-season finale, Burfict drew a personal foul in the third quarter, and coaches benched him for a series. But when they saw him sitting alone with a towel over his head, they thought he was sulking. His day was done. And so, effectively, was his ASU career. In Burfict's final game, the Maaco Bowl, Erickson pulled him from the starting lineup. "I was in tears," Burfict says. "I had the whole game to think about my future and things I needed to change." When he finally got on the field that day, refs flagged him for unsportsmanlike conduct.

BY THE END of the combine, it's clear he still hasn't changed. The NFL knows it. The Twitter-verse knows it. Even worse, so does he. "I lost faith in myself," he says. For days afterward, he doesn't leave his apartment. Until Lisa calls and reminds him about his friend Dominic, about the pact he had made with Magee and Lyons, about how good he could be. "You can't quit now," she tells him.

Soon after, Burfict finds a new trainer and starts again. At his first pro day in mid-March, Burfict doesn't do well enough to erase his combine performance, but he still makes a positive impression: He grants interviews to every reporter who asks.

Afterward, back at his apartment, he opens his door and screeches in a high-pitched voice, "My babies!" He scoops into his arms a Pomeranian named Puff and a Chihuahua named Chacho. The most ferocious player in college football loves his two tiny lapdogs.

"Well, technically, they're hers," Burfict says, motioning to his girlfriend, Brandie LaBomme, a pretty brunette with a slight Texas accent. "But they're my babies," he coos. Along with the dogs, they own a cat named Cullen (yes, as in Edward). Burfict is responsible for the apartment's minimalist decor. He bakes too.

This is part of his makeover strategy, letting people see him when the helmet is off. That's why when not slimming down he is doing practice interviews with a trainer. Using flash cards, Burfict answers questions that might be asked of him again and again in the coming months: Are you a dirty player? A good teammate?

Two weeks after ASU's pro day, at the end of March, Burfict has one final workout in front of scouts. He weighs in at 245 pounds, a number he hasn't seen since his freshman season. He clocks a 4.8 40-yard dash, laughs with players on the sideline and mingles with coaches and scouts between drills. He looks at ease.

He sees Seahawks boss Pete Carroll, the college coach he nearly chose. They meet on the field, shake hands, talk football. "It was good to see him," Carroll says. "He looked leaner, ran faster and worked a lot harder coming into this workout than he did going into the combine. He's getting the message."

But now can he get the message out?

I'll pull for the kid. I hope he's able to succeed, whether it's with us or not, or even if it's in football or if it's not.

But, unfortunately, I won't be surprised if, in a few years, the "where's vontaze burfict" articles start and the answer is less than sunny.

Strike 37. He's gotta be out on all 32 boards, imo.





Vontaze Burfict - LB - Player

FOX Sports' Jay Glazer reports NFL teams were informed this week that Arizona State ILB Vontaze Burfict and Virginia Tech CB JayRon Hosley tested positive for drugs at the Combine.



web page

Well ..... there's a surprise ........

Does taco bell's nacho cheese count as a drug now?

Up until now he had no off the field issues. I was okay taking him late, but when the off the field issues creep in you can't take him at all.

LOYALDAWG, is he still going in round one? That has to be one of the all time worst calls.

Well, there was a certain self-confident poster on this board who last year claimed Dontay Moch was the best prospect in last year's draft.

At least Burfict was being discussed as a potential 1st-rounder last offseason.

I would take him in the first..that's all that matters. Talk to me in a couple years and tell me how bad of a call it is. When he impacts games like Rey Lewis and has a great career meanwhile Lavonte David is getting steamrolled by TE's and making tackles 8 yards downfield and people wonder why our rush defense still sucks..I will just laugh..

Then again when I said Brady Quinn was a huge mistake and isn't even a 3rd round QB people ridiculed me and told me how "Their Boy" was taking us to the promised land..90% of these boards were so far up Quinns Jock but yeah Burfict is the worst call of all time..

Worst call of all time. This year.

You really think Burfict is going to get drafted in the first round?

Bill Polian and Bill Parcells draft board

I don't know how to format it to lay out in here but interesting..Too many people put stock into what the Talking heads say and like Heckert said they have guys that Mayock has rated super low and they will be a first rounder on his boards(along those lines). Like I said if Burfict was a consensus top 15 pick a year ago and Parcell's who coached LT has him rated as a 2nd rounder even after all of the BS..meanwhile most of you have him rated as a 6th and 7th..I would say I am closer to being right than you give me credit. Parcells and Polian were GM's and Parcells a coach..Mel Kyper, Mayock, and Mcturd are talking heads that think they are GM's.

Meanwhile I see a lot of Pimping for David who I think is a 3rd or 4th rounder and some have him as a 2nd..Parcells has him as a low 3rd after guys like Carder and Lewis..

Sorry, didn't notice it was posted above already.

Dude is brain dead . . .

The good news is..
Lions as many teams won't shy away from players who have used marijuana

Despite recent marijuana-related incidents involving the team’s top two draft picks in 2011 (Nick Fairley and Mikel Leshoure), the Detroit Lions won’t be shying away from players with marijuana in their past.

Lions G.M. Martin Mayhew explained the team’s position on Thursday.

“The league has really changed over the years,” Mayhew said, via Anwar Richardson of MLive.com. “If you go back 10, 15 years ago, and a guy had a positive test, that was a big deal. That was something to be very concerned about. It still is, but not at the level it was years ago. There are certain things we want to hear from guys. There are certain things we don’t want to hear from guys. It doesn’t help us to tell you [media] what those things are.”

The main thing teams want to hear from players who have marijuana in their history is that, if push comes to shove, they’ll stop using it. As mentioned earlier today, many teams care about marijuana use only to the extent that the player ends up being unable to play due to repeated positive tests, and the suspensions that inevitably arise. (As former Buccaneers and Colts coach Tony Dungy explained last year on PFT Live, some teams aren’t so quick to overlook illegal drug use.)

The other reality is that, for all the players who get in trouble for using marijuana in college, plenty more of them don’t get in trouble for it. Dumping players from draft boards simply because they got caught will disqualify a team from landing talented players who, once they realize the stakes, will put down the bong and never look back.

When you find yourself in a hole the best first thing you can do is stop digging.

"no... dig up, stupid!"

"Brandi Labomme"
I wonder if she is the same one I saw on the strip club circuit a few years.Not much of a dancer,but with her assets a fellow could overlook her shortcomings.
Not so with Burfict,way too much baggage.Late 3rd,early 4th.

After this recent revelation, dude needs to go play in the CFL.

Title change for the thread:

Burfict bongs his pro-day workout