Keenan Burton (born October 29, 1984) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He was selected by the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

in the fourth round of the

2008 NFL draft The 2008 NFL draft was the 73rd NFL draft, annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York (state), New York ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Early life

Burton attended DuPont Manual Magnet High School in Louisville, Kentucky and was a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

for the Crimsons. At the school he played many positions from

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

. He started the last three of his four seasons with the team, lining up mostly at quarterback on offense, although he did see some action as a receiver,

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

, and

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

. He helped the school attend four Class-AAAA State Playoffs. Burton carried the ball 274 times for 1,634 yards (6.0-yard average) and 25

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s during his career. He completed 81 of 226 passes (35.8%) for 1,605 yards and 17 scores. He also recorded 98

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

, along with 30 pass deflections and 10

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team bu ...

, returning two of those picks for touchdowns, adding another score on a

punt return Punt or punting may refer to: Boats * Punt (boat), a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow developed on the River Thames * Falmouth Quay Punt, a small sailing vessel hired by ships anchored in Falmouth harbour * Norfolk Punt, a type of racing ...

.NFL.com - Combine- Keenan Burton
/ref> Burton was named the MVP of the Kentucky/Tennessee High School All-Star game in 2003.

College career

Burton attended college at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

and participated in their football program while attending the school for a degree in Agricultural communications. Burton turned down offers from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

Marshall University Marshall University is a public university, public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the Uni ...

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

Miami University (Ohio) Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

and

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

. During his tenure on the football team in the 2004 and 2005 seasons, he only played in 8 games. Prior to the 2004 season opener, Burton suffered a left wrist fracture and played in the first game before being sidelined by the coaching staff. In 2005, he suffered a foot injury that resulted in two surgeries. Burton played in 45 games total in his career at Kentucky as a wide receiver and kick returner. He ranks fourth in school history in receptions, third in receiving yards, second in touchdowns, and third in all purpose yards, and was the fifth player to amass over 4,000 all purpose yards.

2006

In 2006, Keenan flourished since he was not plagued with injuries for the first time since 2003. Burton led the Wildcats with 77 receptions for 1,036 yards and 12 touchdowns. He led the Wildcats in kick returns, averaging 24.7 yards per return. He had one kickoff return for a touchdown in the team's season opener in Louisville. In his kick returning duties he ranked second in the SEC. He was the third player ever in the school's history to record over 1,000 yards receiving in a single season and his 12 touchdowns ranked 2nd on the single season chart for the school. The team played in the

Music City Bowl The Music City Bowl is a post-season American college football bowl game certified by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA that has been played in Nashville, Tennessee, since 1998 in sports, 1998. Since 2020, it has been sponsored by ...

and Burton caught only 5 passes for 30 yards in the game. However, Kentucky went on to win the game.

2007

Burton began his senior season with the Wildcats strong. In the first five games of the season he compiled 422 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns. However, struck by

flu Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

-like symptoms and sprains in the knee and ankle, his playing time was limited. He still managed to be second on the team for the season in receiving with 685 yards and 9 touchdowns. The team earned another trip to the Music City Bowl and again Burton was limited in his performance. He caught 7 passes for 56 yards. The team won the game just as they did the previous year despite the low performance. Burton skipped the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

to undergo

arthroscopic surgery Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgery, surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted in ...

on his knee following the completion of the season.

Professional career

Burton, along with Kentucky teammate Andre Woodson, was invited to the 2008

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. Burton was a top performer in the

vertical jump A vertical jump or vertical leap is the act of jumping upwards into the air. It can be an exercise for building both endurance and strength, and is also a standard test for measuring athletic performance. It may also be referred to as a ''Sargent ...

broad jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

3 cone drill 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

, 20-yard shuttle, and 60 yard shuttle events at the combine. He placed first in the vertical jump with a 38.5 in. high jump. Burton also placed third in the 60-yard shuttle with a time of 11.36 seconds. Burton was selected 128th overall in the fourth round of the

by the

. He signed a three-year, $1.459 million contract with the Rams on July 4, 2008. The deal included a $309,000 signing bonus. Burton finished his rookie season with 13 receptions for 172 yards and one touchdown. In 2009 Burton entered the Rams' Week 10 game against New Orleans as the team's leading receiver with 25 catches. However, his season ended in the first quarter with a knee injury when he landed awkwardly on a long pass route. "It's a patella injury," His coach,

Steve Spagnuolo Stephen Christopher Spagnuolo ( ;(Italian: born December 21, 1959) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Spags", Spagnuolo started his NFL coac ...

said. "It's a pretty bad injury." On September 7, 2010, Burton was released by the St. Louis Rams to make room for wide receiver Mark Clayton on the 53-man roster. Burton played in 22 games as a Ram, including seven starts, totaling 38 receptions for 425 yards and one touchdown.

References

External links

* *
Player page on NFL.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Keenan 1984 births Living people American football wide receivers Kentucky Wildcats football players St. Louis Rams players DuPont Manual High School alumni Players of American football from Louisville, Kentucky