Tj Burke '22 Recruiting Profile

My name is TJ Burke and I go to Indian River High School in Dagsboro Delaware. I am a 2 Sport Athlete (Football and Wrestling) That has a 3.3 GPA and someone that takes sports and academics very seriously. What separates me from other athletes in the country is my hard work in and out of the classroom, and how I'm the one in the school that makes sure everyone after school is either at practice or in the Weight room or getting some field work. The reason why i love to work so hard is because I'm a lot younger then everyone, My birthday is July 6th 2004 and i will be a junior going into 2020-2021 school year. I've just turned 16 and I'm already very close to breaking all of my school lifting records which include the Bench, Squat, Power Clean, and Deadlift. Freshman year i was 5'8 200 pounds and my bench was 200 pounds and my squat was only 300 and i was running a 5.8 second 40 yard dash. I would start varsity football as a freshman and it was very hard for me but I pushed through it, starting both sides of the ball and helping my teammates, which meant a lot to me. once football ended i had Wrestling season right after which i also started as a freshman (Weight class 220). Once Wrestling was over i would hit the weight room very hard and i grew 4 inches in one year and gained 40 pounds, making me 6'0 and 240 pounds, i also was now benching 290, squatting 405 and running a 5.4 second 40 yard dash. After a rough 2019 season and going 2-8 and losing many close games and earning 2nd team all conference DT a lot of people started assuming i was going to transfer because of how our football team has been the past couple years, it wasn't even a question that i was not transferring anywhere, as i believe overcoming adversity and working harder will pay off in the future. I then wrestled 220 again and would make it to the state tournament. As soon as wrestling was over i had to get back in the weight room and get my strength and athletics back. i would work very hard through spring and summer, even when gyms were shutdown. Now I've just turned 16 years old and I'm 6'2 285 benching 325 pounds and squatting 505 with a 5.25 second 40 yard dash. And now that football is being pushed back to the spring i will have more time to work and hopefully hit a 4.99 40 yard dash, but its gonna take a lot of hard work, something i will never fail at. if you want to see my improvement from freshman year to sophomore the links to those are on my profile.