This fall you’ll find Amari Burney all over the field. That means you won’t find him right now.
Due to a few transfers, injuries and one dismissal the sophomore from St. Petersburg who moved from safety to linebacker at the end of the 2018 season will be a man on the move in 2019. Burney has spent most of the offseason with a timeshare in two meeting rooms. He’ll spend time with Christian Robinson and the linebacker before jetting off to watch film with the safeties and defensive backs. Burney’s versatility will be crucial for the Gators so he’s been married to his playbook, or playbooks in this case.
“In high school, I had no technique,” Burney said Thursday. “It was different in high school; I just stood in the middle and just played the ball and made tackles, things like that. But coming here, Coach English and Coach Robinson, they both put me in the film room when I first got here, and showing me my footwork, things I needed to work on in the offseason.”
Burney initially moved to weakside linebacker (Florida calls the position “Money”) at the end of the 2018 season. He spent most of 2018 playing on special teams while he learned the ropes but it was an adjustment for the high school standout.
Burney spent time in practice last year behind Chauncey Gardner-Johnson at nickel (Florida calls the position Star), learning the ropes. This year he’ll be expected to play both roles. It’s not as difficult as it may seem, or Burney is just being modest and playing down his workload.
“They’re both the same thing for me,” he said. “Star and Money is basically the same position, it’s just you’ve just got to be a bigger guy and you’ve got to guard different people, but it’s mainly the same position.”
Gators defensive coordinator Todd Grantham has echoed those sentiments as well. Grantham has listed Trey Dean, Burney, Jeremiah Moon, Quincy Lenton and even Mohamoud Diabate as players who can fill that role. The skill-sets and abilities in that group vary a lot, which left a question in a lot of minds as just to what Grantham meant. Burney’s explanation Thursday shed some line on the situation. For instance, yes, Moon or Burney can play nickel but they’re not going to be in at nickel on a 3rd and 15 obviously passing down. You want more defensive backs on the field in that situation. If you’re in a 3rd and short situation and Burney has to slide out to cover a tight end or an extra wide receiver, well, now he’s playing Star instead of Money. Simple as that.
The importance of Burney’s versatility to the team, however, cannot be understated. He’s going to be a guy that will likely be on the field for most of Florida’s defensive snaps this season.
“Burney’s really important to this team,” Marco Wilson said. “He plays multiple positions: linebacker and star. He really covers that depth at star because we struggled there over the past couple of weeks. He’s very athletic and he can play real good. He’s really important to this squad.”