Inside the Clubhouse: Will Burns

“I do think that I'll have to choose eventually,” Burns said. “But I'm trying to push that off as long as I can. I can't let one go right now.”

You might recognize Burns’ name if you’re familiar with high school sports in the Southern California area. Prep Baseball Report ranks the shortstop/third baseman No. 12 in California. He also happens to be one of Orange County’s best quarterbacks.

On the baseball diamond, Burns is a force in the batter’s box with plenty of power from the right side. Last season for the Trabuco Hills Mustangs, he hit .333 with five homers, 10 doubles, and an on-base percentage of 1.001 in 29 games. The Mustangs finished 26-3 overall and 11-1 in league, good enough for a Sea View League title.

On the gridiron, Burns excelled under center as quarterback, racking up 3,458 total yards, with 25 passing touchdowns and nine rushing touchdowns over 10 games. The football Mustangs finished 7-4 overall this season, finishing just one game behind first place. The only loss suffered in league happened to come when Burns sat out due to a high fever.

The senior is signed on to play both baseball and football at Texas Tech. He’s decided to forego his senior baseball season, graduating early and enrolling at Texas Tech for the upcoming spring semester. He’ll be starting his athletic career as a Red Raider in Feb. 2023.

“I thought that the development I'd get at a D1 college was best for me right now,” Burns said. “I just felt that the sooner I could get there, the better it would be for my career in the long run.”

Burns has been playing baseball and football all his life, going back to t-ball at four years old. His family has an athletic history of playing football and playing track, but he’s the first to play baseball.

He admits that it takes a little time to get in the groove when each season comes, but instead, he points to how playing both sports benefits him.

“Sometimes my spiral will be off after baseball season and some baseball skills will be rusty after football season,” Burns said. “But both sports don’t allow me to get burnt out on the other one.”

His offseason consists of an alternating routine, with one day emphasizing baseball drills and the next day filled with football workouts. 

“I try to mix it up, lift and do a lot of different things,” Burns said. “I'm not stuck on one thing throughout a week."

The athleticism is clearly there for the 6-foot-2, 175-pound Southern California native and it’s even been put on display in track and field. Trabuco Hills Head Baseball Coach Mike Burns (no relation) brought up the time the school’s track coach had reached out about Will participating in a few meets.

“He basically did a couple of training sessions with our track coach and went and ran track when it fit with the baseball schedule,” Mike said. “His first track meet, I think he lost by .02 in the 100-yard dash and won the long jump with minimal training. “

Navigating through different situations has been a common narrative for Will. Not only is he toggling back and forth from his football helmet to his baseball cap, he’s also had to deal with a change of scenery in the midst of his high school career.

Will was initially at Mission Viejo High School before transferring to Trabuco Hills after his sophomore year. When asked what the most difficult thing about coming in to a new environment was, Will said the transition actually went smoothly because he felt like he fit right in. 

“It was easy because I knew some of the football players prior to transferring, and the baseball players had watched me play in the fall,” Will said. 

One thing Will says he gets from playing football is the ability to overcome adversity and come up clutch in big moments. He recalled a game that occurred last baseball season in a non-league clash at home against the Rams of Millikan High School (Long Beach, Calif.). 

After making an error that helped fuel a four-run comeback by the Rams in the top of the seventh, Will had the opportunity to bounce back at the plate in the bottom of the eighth. 

“I was able to walk it off with a homerun,” Will said. “I’m just used to high-intensity situations because of football.”

Mike remembers last year’s first-round CIF matchup against the Trinity League’s Rancho Santa Margarita High School that exemplified Will’s knack to make the big play. Despite the tough 13-10 loss, Mike was impressed with what he saw that day.

“What a freak athlete and amazing talent he is,” Mike said. “He hit two homeruns and it was just like, ‘whoa, that's the guy that everybody sees. That's the one that scouts are following.’”

Off the field, Will’s personality isn’t as animated as what most people would expect from a star two-sport athlete.

“He’s really quiet and shy, but super intellectual,” Mike said. “We have post-season interviews every year with all of our players to talk about the season. He talked a lot and was very aware of shortcomings, the things he did well and the things he needed to improve on.”

Despite being reserved, Mike said it’s Will’s tenacity when it comes to adapting to certain situations that will help him find success in college and beyond.

“The physical skills are definitely there, but it’s the intelligence and the self-awareness,” Mike said. “At every level, the pitching is going to get harder and harder and it'll expose any sort of weakness you may have. So I think his ability to make adjustments and understand what's going on will help him.”

As far as competing at the next level, Will had a wide variety of options to continue his baseball career. However, on the flip side, he didn’t have any official offers for football. The only schools that would allow him to play both sports were Stanford or Texas Tech.

Ultimately, he saw it as a better fit to leave his home state of California and become a Red Raider.

 “I didn’t see the weather or any other factors as a reason that I’d go there specifically. It was mostly led by where I was going to develop best,” Will said. “Texas Tech has a history of allowing players to play both sports like Patrick Mahomes. Also, the football coach and baseball coach are both very close, and it’s a very tight-knit community over there.”

The upcoming 2023 season will once again pose another change of scenery for Will, such as living on his own out-of-state, adjusting to college life and facing even stiffer competition in both sports. But he knows he’s got to put in the extra effort to stay focused.

“It's pretty much just sports,” Will said when asked about some of his hobbies away from the game. “There’s nothing else I’m too serious about and I'm trying to keep it that way. It'll need to be that way for a while."

Although turning pro next year may not be in the books for Will, he knows that his time at Texas Tech will help plant seeds for his future, whether it involves baseball, football or even both.