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Josh McCuistion
SoonerScoop.com Associate Editor
While Victor Burnett already held offers from schools like Arizona, California, Arizona State, Nebraska, Washington, and several others he can't deny that when he got one of his most recent offers he couldn't help but get a bit excited. For the 6-foot-1, 225-pound four-star linebacker it was not only the surprise of the moment that swept him up but how quickly everything came together for him.
"I guess my coach kind of knew about it. He told me to call coach Brent Venables and I tried a couple of times but couldn't reach him. Coach Venables said his phone was messed up so he didn't know when I was calling him," Burnett said.
"So I thought it was just they were evaluating me.
"The other day I tried him before I went to school and I finally got to talk to him. I got the news. I was driving but if I wasn't I would have been jumping around."
It was an interest that Burnett admits shouldn't have surprised him after he let one of his Culver City, Calif. coaches know of his interest in hearing from the Oklahoma coaching staff.
And apparently the drawing of attention has worked out well for both sides as Burnett already admits a fondness for his would-be position coach.
"I expressed to one of my coaches my interest in Oklahoma and they pursued them for me. Oklahoma saw my tape, they evaluated it and this was my second time talk to (Venables)," he said.
"He seems like a good person to get to know. Just off the two times I've talked to him you can tell he is excited about me and I'm excited to get to know him.
"He is an energetic person, he can make you love the school."
Aside from a relationship with his future coaches Burnett says that he only has a few criteria to distinguish one school from another. However those criteria are well defined in his mind. It seems that for what Burnett knows about the Sooners to date, they meet the stipulations nicely.
"My criteria for a school is a competitive school, a place that I can compete for and want to play," he said. "Oklahoma, you can't really get better than that. It's one of those teams that produce NFL players that go to the next level," Burnett explained.
"They've been to four out of the last nine national championships. It's one of the biggest stages in football. It's a great chance just to show what I can do really. That's one of the schools that I see competing every year in a big conference.
"Also, it's about what degree I get and also just the atmosphere. I know it's a totally different atmosphere from Berkeley to Oklahoma. I know in the south there is a lot of hospitality and that's something you jump off the bat with.
"Some stuff I know about Oklahoma but a lot of stuff that I'm not in the know about I'm really going to pursue. Oklahoma is up there in my top priority list. I'm about to really start researching Oklahoma."
Burnett says the hospitality that most areas around the Big 12 region are well known for is a real draw for the free-speaking Burnett.
"I'm open with people, I'm currently the school president. I like making changes where it's a bad situation. I'm not a person to be inside of a shell," he said.
While a few schools stand out for Burnett he realizes that he doesn't have enough information so far to truly put together a list of top schools. With some summer and fall visits already in the works that problem should quickly remedy itself.
"The schools that stand out to me are the ones that I really didn't see coming; like Oklahoma, Cal, Nebraska, and Washington," he said.
"Those are the schools I didn't see coming on too hard but they just struck with offers and it was like 'wow'. Those are the ones that stand out because those weren't the ones I was expecting or thought might be coming a little later on.
"You can't really determine what a school is like until you get on campus. I can say oh I like Cal because their jerseys and I like how they compete and then visit the campus and I might feel differently.
"I love to evaluate everything and that's when I can come up with a top school based on actually the schools."
