Leading Knight: Long Valley Native Named Rutgers Football Team Captain

Less than five years after leading his high school football team to a state title, Michael Burton finds himself in a similar position. This time, however, he shoulders the hopes of America’s longest standing collegiate football team.

Burton, a lifelong resident of Long Valley, enters his final year of NCAA eligibility with the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights football team. Earlier this month, Burton was named one of the team’s five captains, and only one of two on the offensive side of the ball.

The honor is not taken lightly, especially by the fullback. He’s the first former West Morris Central Wolfpack player to officially be named a leader for the Scarlet Knights.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” to be named captain, Burton told Patch in an interview. “There are a lot of leaders on this team. Being named captain by my teammates is a special feeling.”

The road to this point, however, was not a walk in the park, rather a walk on to the field.

Despite racking up records for the Wolfpack and leaving his name in the history books at West Morris Central, not to mention his assistance from the coaching staff there during the college recruitment process, Burton had to work his way into a Scarlet Knight uniform.

The fifth year senior walked on to the football team and hoped to earn a spot. With a lot of patience and trust, he’ll now enter the 2014 season as a front-and-center piece of the puzzle.

“I took everything one day at a time when I got (to Rutgers),” he said. “I did what the coaches told me to do and I put in the work I needed to succeed.” Burton started 10 of the team’s 13 games in 2013, and played in each of the contests.

Burton admits it wasn’t just the Rutgers coaching staff that steered him to this point, but the lineage of instructors who paved this path throughout his playing career.

“Growing up (in Long Valley), from the Raiders to the high school, I always had excellent coaches,” Burton said. “Coach (Kevin) Hennelly did a great job teaching me and helping me prepare to play at the next level.” Of course, Burton couldn’t leave out his supportive parents and siblings, of which he’s one of four.

Coming off a 6-7 season in 2013, Rutgers faces an entirely new challenge this fall, as it enters its first year as a member of the Big 10 Conference. The Scarlet Knights will face four teams ranked in pre-season polls – Ohio State (5); Nebraska (22); Wisconsin (14); and Michigan State (8) – along with contests against perennial contenders Michigan and Penn State.

“We expect a lot,” Burton said of the major change to the university. “This is a prestigious conference and it gives us more opportunities to see what we can really do. As a fifth-year senior leader, to be part of this team during such a big change, it’s a really special feeling.”

While Burton, like every other youth football player, may have spent his peewee days dreaming of running down the sidelines at the professional level, the communications major wouldn’t say too much about his playing days beyond High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway.

“Right now I’m just focused on the season at hand,” he said. “We’ve had a great (training) camp and I’m trying to take one day and one game at a time. My focus isn’t going past being the best student-athlete I can be right now.”

Rutgers Scarlet Knights opens its season on the road against Washington State on Thursday, Aug. 28. Kickoff is set for 10 p.m. eastern.