It’s 3 o’clock in the morning, and Mike Burton hears noises coming from the living room.
When he walks over to see who the culprit is, he finds his son Brandon doing pushups. Thinking nothing of it, Mike goes back to his bedroom to sleep. The next morning, he can’t find his son. Mike heads to the grocery store, hoping to find him there, but with no luck.
“I came back home (from the grocery store) and he was there, so I asked him where he had gone – I mean he didn’t know anybody there or have any friends,” Mike Burton said. “He told me he was doing a mile run. So I kind of stopped and stared at him for a second.”
Brandon Burton was visiting his father in Florida when this happened and had just finished the eighth grade.
“He told me, ‘Dad, just because I’m on vacation doesn’t mean I can take days off or not be prepared,’” Mike Burton said. “’All my competition is in the weight room and getting ready, so I have to do this.’”
In the fall after that break, Brandon earned playing time on the state champion Junipero Serra High School football team as a safety and wide receiver.
He said he truly became “a football player” in a playoff game against Santa Monica High School that year. He intercepted a pass and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown – as a gangly 14-year-old.
Four years later, and Brandon Burton was a much more burly four-star recruit with offers from over 20 schools including perennial powerhouses Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma.
But the defensive back’s choice ultimately came down to unranked UCLA and No. 14 Florida State that had gone 10-3 the previous year.
“The decision was 51-49.” Brandon Burton said, “That’s what it was.”
The football-centric campus at Florida State intrigued him. He was blown away by the crowd that amassed on his official visit during rivalry week when the Seminoles played the Miami Hurricanes.
“That game was one of the most turnt-up games I’ve ever been to,” Brandon Burton said. “It’s such a deep rivalry down there in Florida because they all know each other on the team, so it’s really intense. The environment is like no other.”
As fun as he claimed his visit to Tallahassee, Florida, was – and as tempting as it was to step into a program that has produced several top-draft picks in the last few years – Burton realized there was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up in Westwood.
“I think at UCLA he felt that he could really carve his own lane and his own niche,” Mike Burton said. “It had to do with bringing the program back, and to not be just another name in the lore of (Alabama) Crimson Tide history or USC Trojan history. I was really proud of him to be able to break away from that, and I think he just wants to put on for where he’s from.”
Staying local was also about an opportunity to replicate the success he had become accustomed to – as a youngster watching the Los Angeles Lakers. Brandon Burton grew up a die-hard Kobe Bryant fan and is always looking to bring the same type of intensity onto the football field.
“The Lakers – they shaped the culture of LA,” Brandon Burton said. “Just growing up in the city and seeing all that success, it just makes you want to be a part of it. It was an experience you could live out no matter how old you were. … That’s what I’m trying to bring back to Westwood – that standard of championships.”
UCLA also gave Brandon Burton an opportunity to continue his academic success. Earlier this month, he was a finalist for the Franklin D. Watkins Award from the National Alliance of African American Athletes, an award given to high school football players who exhibit excellence on the field, in the community and in the classroom.
Despite the bigger picture, the game of football remains his focus. He regularly thinks abut bringing the Heisman Trophy back to the defensive side of the ball and earning Freshman All-American honors.
“I play the hardest position on the field other than quarterback,” Brandon Burton said. “Because you’re playing quarterback of the defense and you’re playing full speed backwards. But seeing what players like (Florida State defensive backs) Derwin James and Jalen Ramsey could do as freshmen, you just want to bring the best out for yourself, because I know I can go out there and make plays every Saturday.”
Brandon will most likely continue his late-night push-ups and early morning runs to do more than just that. Coaches are currently talking to him about the possibility of playing on both sides of the line of scrimmage and participating in special teams.
He could’ve gone to Florida State, to Ohio State or to any school in the country. But in every action he takes and with every statement he makes, the singular theme of representing his city remains in focus. It’s bigger than football for him.
“Being from LA, I’m built differently,” Burton said. “The type of vibe we have here makes you want to stay and give back to your community, but really coming to UCLA played to all my cards. It helped me out in every realm, not just one. Honestly, I can’t wait until June.”