North Gwinnett’s ‘lockdown’ CB Warren Burrell breaks down his interest in UGA

Jeff Sentell
Jeff Sentell

Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel will bring at least five days a week. The play sheet today calls for a chance to see how Warren Burrell feels about his recent offer from UGA. 

I can easily tell that Warren Burrell might be one of the most interesting 2019 prospects in the state of Georgia.

Burrell, as you might have read in yesterday’s Intel, is one of the three North Gwinnett defensive backs in the 2019 class to receive an offer from UGA.

He’s the guy that North Gwinnett used along its state championship season to erase the best receiver in the other jerseys every Friday night. He usually did.

But Burrell also has a special set of skills. Besides being the smoothest dancer and the most at ease socially in all situations.

He’s also got a rap. Freestyle. At any times. Like during the middle of an interview. His teammates call it a gift. Here’s what he came up with when tasked (totally on the spot) to rap about recruiting.

Coaches recruit but this is how I do,

Rapping in the booth,

Who are you? Don’t know what you do,

Ranking who? You go haters scooch,

This is what I am saying, 

Make it up in my mind,

Making up these rhymes,

Playing basketball and throwing dimes,

Warren Burrell-UGA recruiting-Georgia recruiting-DawgNation
North Gwinnett cornerback Warren Burrell rates as the nation’s No. 36 CB in 2019 on the 247Sports Composite. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)

This is really how I do,

I got these cleats up on my feet,

You know how I be rocking rapping on MTV,

You know I’m going to go ahead and sell my DVDs and CDs,

Then ship ’em out overseas like Mp3s. 

He’s not Chance or Kendrick yet, but that’s not bad for a high school junior who could fill up the blog with rhymes. Burrell could, like a great many things, in his life, go on.

“He can go on with a freestyle rap for about 10 minutes straight,” 4-star North Gwinnett cornerback DJ Turner II said.

This guy might very well be skilled enough to freestyle rap about his decision in a commitment video.

Would UGA have a chance to be in that rhyme? The 6-foot, 170-pound prospect shared a few thoughts about that.

“It was a good feeling having that first in-state offer,” he said. “Because that was my first in-state school to offer. So having the option to not have to go too far from home and stay close to where I live right now is good to have.”

The North Gwinett trio feels that Burrell might be the first of that group to commit.

“Maybe right before senior year or early senior year,” he said.

He said that Ohio State and USC have started to hit him up recently. That joins Alabama and Florida and Georgia in that group.

“My offer was good from Georgia because it came on a visit from Kirby Smart,” he said. “It was face-to-face. That really meant something.”

Burrell does not know if he will enroll early. He can, but it doesn’t sound like that’s a priority at this time.

He’s also very thankful to be a part of such a talented secondary at North Gwinnett.

“They are all lockdown,” North Gwinnett defensive backs coach Eric Wright said. “Every single one of them (Newsome and Turner) are all lockdown. I’m excited to see a receiver that is going to get by any of them. I would be excited to see that because all three of these guys deserve what they are getting right now. They have worked for it.”

Checking a few Warren Burrell tweets

Burrell is unrelenting in all things. He loves his buddies DJ Turner II and Quinton Newsome like brothers but won’t hear of either of them saying they are faster than him.

Or a better dancer. Or even better on the basketball court. When one of his coaches teased him about being primed for a picture, he had a response to that.

“What do you mean,” he said? “I stay photo shoot fresh.”

But don’t let this specific interview act paint the entire picture. He has not one or two or three but four bible verses atop his Twitter page. Those are 2 Timothy 1:7, Psalm 37:4, 1 John4:4 and Psalm 23:4.

He also practices as vigilantly as any member of his team. His buddies and his position coach also readily acknowledge that. He also squats more weight (370 pounds) than the other talented members of the North Gwinnett secondary.

His tweets have been interesting of late.

What Warren Burrell brings to the field

He’s been timed at 4.53 seconds in the 40, but the big thing he brings to the field aside from his cover skills would be his length. Pair that with a 38-inch vertical leap and a bench press approaching 260 pounds and that’s a lot to work with.

He’s rated as the nation’s No. 36 cornerback prospect on the 247Sports Composite and as the No. 412 prospect overall.

Burrell snatched away 5 interceptions in 2017. He was also first-team all-state in Class 7A.

“Warren was our lockdown guy,” Stewart said of his play last year. “If we wanted to eliminate a receiver with our corner, he was our guy.”

Burrell was tasked with limiting Mountain View’s Malachi Carter last season. Carter had a prolific career and signed with Georgia Tech. Stewart recalled that he caught one ball against his Bulldogs.

That was due in no small part to the coverage applied by Burrell.

“He shut him down completely and on top of a performance like that against an elite guy he is very consistent,” Stewart said. “He’s the most consistent player every week. Great ball skills. He also scored a touchdown of those takeaways and had another one called back.”

Miss any Intel? The DawgNation recruiting archive will get you up to speed just as fast as former Georgia All-American LB Roquan Smith found the ball after the snap.

NEXT Georgia earns No. 4 seed for NCAA Tournament, will face Mercer in first round

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