Rex Burkhead

Rex Burkhead

Burkhead in 2013
No. 33 Cincinnati Bengals
Position:	Running back
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1990-07-02) July 2, 1990
Place of birth:	Lexington, Kentucky
Height:	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight:	218 lb (99 kg)
Career information
High school:	Plano (TX)
College:	Nebraska
NFL Draft:	2013 / Round: 6 / Pick: 190
Career history
Cincinnati Bengals (2013–present)
Roster status:	Active
Career highlights and awards
First-team All-Big Ten (2011)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 6, 2016
Rushing yards: 46 Rushing average: 3.1 Rushing TDs: 1 Receptions: 17 Receiving yards: 143 Receiving TDs: 1 Player stats at NFL.com

Rex Burkhead (born July 2, 1990) is an American football running back for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League. Burkhead played in college for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Early years

Burkhead was born in Lexington, Kentucky, but was raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. Burkhead attended Plano Senior High School in Plano, Texas. As a senior he rushed for 1,762 yards and 28 touchdowns, leading Plano to a state semifinal appearance in the Texas 5-A football playoffs. He also played on the 2006 5-A Texas state championship basketball team as a freshman. He earned first-team all-district honors in basketball as a junior and senior, and as a freshman he was part of Class 5A state championship basketball team.^[1]

College career

As a freshman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2009, Burkhead played in nine games, rushing for 346 yards on 81 carries with three touchdowns. As a sophomore in 2010, Burkhead was second on the depth chart behind senior Roy Helu. Burkhead played in all 14 games as the backup, and rushed for 951 yards on 172 carries and seven touchdowns. In 2011, Burkhead took over as the starting running back as a junior. Nebraska had little experience at running back that season, and Burkhead got the majority of the carries, including a school record 38 carries against the Iowa Hawkeyes.^[2] He ended up rushing for 1,357 yards on 284 carries with 15 touchdowns and was named a first team All-Big Ten selection.^[3] In 2012, with expectations high, Burkhead sprained his knee in the season opener and missed two games before re-injuring the knee four games later.^[4] Burkhead missed six games total in the season, but still finished with five touchdowns and 675 yards on just 98 carries for a 6.9 yard average.^[5]

He was considered the ninth or 10th best running back prospect for the 2013 NFL Draft in the top 150 overall.^[6][7]

He graduated from Nebraska in three-and-a-half years with bachelor's degree in history. He earned repeated scholar-athlete awards throughout his career, including first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2011 and 2012, and recognition as one of 15 National Football Foundation Scholar Athletes in 2012.^[8]

College Statistics

Professional career

2013 NFL Combine

2013

After being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2013 NFL Draft, Burkhead signed with the team on May 13, 2013.

He played in all four preseason games, rushing 28 times for 130 yards with one touchdown, and five receptions for 39 yards. However, plagued by a hamstring injury all season, he was active for only one of the team's 16 games, making his NFL debut on November 10 playing on special teams in a 20-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.^[9]

2014

In 2014, Burkhead played in nine games for the Bengals, mainly on special teams. On offense, he had nine rushes for 27 yards and his first career touchdown (against the Cleveland Browns) and seven receptions for 49 yards. He had the most productive game of his career in the Bengals' opening round playoff loss to the Indianapolis Colts, in which Burkhead started at wide receiver and totaled three receptions for 34 yards and one rush for 23 yards.^[10]

Personal

Burkhead is married; his wife's name is Danielle.^[11] Burkhead was the 2012 winner of the Uplifting Athletes Rare Disease Champion award. He was awarded for his work with a 6-year-old suffering from a rare pediatric brain tumor called a low-grade glioma.^[12] Burkhead’s commitment to community service has been personified by his friendship with that child, Jack Hoffman, a cancer patient from Atkinson, Nebraska. Jack contacted Nebraska in 2011, asking for a Burkhead photo. Burkhead offered to meet Jack, and his involvement in their relationship led to national notice when he arranged for Jack to suit up in a Cornhusker uniform and “run for a touchdown” in the 2013 NU spring football game before a crowd of more than 60,000. President Barack Obama responded by inviting Jack and his family to the White House, and the family included Burkhead in its party. In honor of Jack Hoffman, Burkhead launched the Team Jack Foundation.^[13]

References

External links

• Nebraska Cornhuskers bio