Height/weight: 6-ft-4; 262 LBS

Picked A&M Over: Oklahoma , TCU and Texas

Why A&M: The Aggies offered Burris very early in his high school careers and had created a very strong presence in East Texas as they pursued the four-star defensive tackle. The communication was very consistent and the relationships are very strong. He instantly clicked with Terry Price.

Recruited by: Terry Price

Message to the 12th Man: “Thank you for all the support. I want to start off by thanking God for this opportunity— without Him I would not be here...I want to thank family, friends, trainers and coaches...I want to thank Texas A&M University for this opportunity. We are one step closer...Gig’Em.” - Marcus Burris

Watching these highlights made me feel bad for Pleasant Grove's opponents, because they just had no chance. Burris is so big and strong he just overwhelmed them. Keep in mind, the guy on the other side is Landon Jackson, who is committed to LSU -- and Burris got most of the double teams.

Pleasant Grove plays a 3-3-5, most of the time so Burris is a defensive end in their scheme. When Pleasant Grove did go with a 4-man front, Burris did move inside. Most 3-man front defensive ends are defensive tackles in a 4-man front like A&M's, but the Aggies have proven to show some flexibility there. Kingsley Keke and Bobby Brown both played outside as what I call Jumbo defensive ends, largely with the idea of holding up the edge and messing up the running game. DeMarvin Leal does the same, but he's on another level with how he moves at 290 pounds.

Burris is somewhere in between those guys. He doesn't have that great speed that Leal does for guys of their size, but he has a tremendous ability to just get to the football. His situational awareness is off the charts; he's very instinctive. He sniffs out screens very well and is able to figure out what's coming by how he's being blocked. And forget trying to cut him; he'll either jump over or run through you.

Burris has good speed, but it's the strength (along with the situational awareness) that jump off the screen at me. It's not very often you see a defensive end put out an arm, grab a player from behind and throw him to the turf; he does that twice in the highlights above. He just brutalizes people, but he also knows there's more to his job than just smashing someone. His recognition of screen plays is great (check out the Sunnyvale highlights), and he knows when he needs to stop rushing and get ready to deflect a pass.

There are some things Burris needs to work on, like his first step and not hopping almost straight up out of his stance. But it doesn't take long to sort those things out. He's already incredibly strong and has a knack for making plays. Like Brown, he could start off at defensive end for a year or two, but will likely end up inside and could probably bulk up to 315 pounds if the Aggies want him to. You can't teach size, strength and instinct, and Burris has all three. This is a very nice get for A&M.

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