Blogging with the Devils

Only one active player in the Pac-10 has surpassed 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in his career. Take a bow, Rudy Burgess:

Burgess has achieved a grand in both categories — the Arizona State senior has 1,051 career yards rushing and 1,069 receiving — because of his willingness to play anywhere on the field. He came to Tempe as a wide receiver, played running back in 2004 and ‘05 and moved back to wideout last season. In October, he was pressed into duty at cornerback.

During his time at ASU, Burgess — now exclusively at receiver — has been just as versatile with a comb and clippers as on the football field.

“Rudy is the team stylist, man,” quarterback Rudy Carpenter said. “He cuts everyone’s hair.”

And he has clearly put a lot of thought into his own hairdos, emphasis on the plural. As a Sun Devil, Burgess has sported a wide collection of styles on the top of his head:

THE CORNROWS: This is perhaps Burgess’ most frequent ‘do during the last three years. It was his style late in 2005, when his third-quarter touchdown sparked a come-from-behind victory against Arizona, which was followed up by an MVP-caliber performance (170 yards of total offense, two TDs) against Rutgers in the Insight Bowl. The practical benefit of this look is that his hair stays in place under his helmet.

THE AFRO: This style is more for levity than anything else. At ASU’s media day two years ago, Burgess drew guffaws when he showed up with hair so puffed up that Oscar Gamble — who has baseball’s most famous afro in the 1970s — would have blushed. He has rarely displayed this look during games, however.

THE MODEST LOOK: This is Burgess’ current ‘do, and perhaps it reflects this stage of his life. A senior in college, he is about to make the leap into full-blown adulthood. Professional. Understated. We like it.

Of course, Burgess’ hairstyle is always subject to change.

San Jose State has played football annually for eight decades, and in that time, only twice have the Spartans faced the same opposing head coach in consecutive regular-season games. Both coaches have ASU ties.

Darryl Rogers led Fresno State against SJSU in the last game of the 1970 regular season and the 1971 opener, winning both contests. Rogers coached the Sun Devils from 1980-84. Dennis Erickson, who guided Idaho in a 28-13 loss against the Spartans on Nov. 25, 2006, will make his game debut as ASU coach on Saturday.

Shameless plug department: I will be part of an ASU football roundtable discussion on The Sports Zone with Bob Kemp at 1 p.m. Friday on KDUS (1060 AM). The segment is scheduled to last an hour.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 4:54 pm and is filed under Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.