Major Burns' new LSU commitment honors mother's birthday, father's legacy

Choretta Burns beams again remembering the excitement of that March afternoon.

Hometown LSU's scholarship offer to her son, Major Burns, was an immediate difference-maker in his recruiting process.

"It was for me," she laughs. "It was for me. But ultimately it was going to be his decision, because he's the one that's going to have to play, he's the one that's going to have to build the relationship with the team, the players. It's gonna have to be somewhere where he wants to be and feels comfortable. And we wanted him to be somewhere where he wasn't going to be homesick.

"So when that call came, I personally was so excited. And he was, too."

Major quickly visited the Tigers on back-to-back days and decommitted from SEC rival Texas A&M within the week.

But he remembered the lessons of patience and decision-making his late father, Tony, had emphasized before passing last summer.

Major visited other campuses, such as Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama, and continued to consult his and Choretta's binder of research on the rapidly growing number of college football programs recruiting the rising star.

Each time, his mind and heart continued to return home and to LSU and to carefully plan Thursday's commitment announcement honoring his father's legacy and celebrating his mother's June 6 birthday.

"Recently my father passed away," he says. "So I feel like me and my family are going through something, and we need to go through this together. So I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but home with them. I know I'm gonna thrive. But for these next three or four years with them, we'll just go through this together and get through this and come out on top.

"When I first started blowing up, it was an amazing feeling. It's been a rollercoaster. But now, I'm just ready for the recruitment all to be over. I know where my home is, and I'm just ready to work."

Choretta and Tony Burns didn't even realize the eventual hometown connection their second son's name would bear.

The young couple from Biloxi, Miss., just knew the little boy was destined for greatness and needed a name to carry that flair.

"When I was carrying him, he would kick, kick, kick,' Choretta laughs. "And I said, 'This boy here, we need a name that's gonna come through the loudspeakers, because he's gonna do something amazing.'"

And during a Thanksgiving visit to her brother in Austin, Texas, the name of a record-setting Longhorns quarterback from Baton Rouge struck an immediate chord.

"We had tickets in the student section, so of course they stood up the whole game for the Texas A&M - Texas game," she remembers. "I was sitting down, because I was pregnant, and I had to pay attention to the loudspeakers to know what was going on on the field. And all I could hear was, 'MA-JOR APPLE-WHITE! MA-JOR APPLE-WHITE!' And I just loved the way that name came through the loudspeaker.

"So, Tony was standing up, and I said, 'Tony! Do you like that name?' And he said, 'Yeah! I like it!' And on the drive home, I said, 'No, seriously, Tony, I love that name: Major."

Smiles Major: "And, boom, that's me!"

The Burnses moved to Baton Rouge when Major and older brother Dakota were young and soon welcomed little Tony II — or "Buddha" — to the family.

Tony, a former Southern Miss quarterback, and Choretta encouraged their boys to pursue their own interests.

But passions for sports — particularly baseball and football — were quickly evident.

"At 2 years old, most kids are trying to wake up to watch Nickelodeon or Disney on Saturday morning and turn the TV on and watch cartoons," Choretta remembers. "He was turning on ESPN to watch SportsCenter. And so, at 5 years old, Major could have a full conversation about any sport, name the players, tell you what's going on and anything.

"He got his love of the game from his dad. There was plenty of Saturdays or Sundays, they'd sit on the couch together and talk about sports — not so much him playing... So he gets his tenacity, his athletic ability, his keen insight of the game, all that, I would love to take credit for that. But he gets all that from his dad."

Tony and Choretta tried to prepare their sons, as best as anyone could, as his illness worsened.

For Tony, many of the lessons he tried to share were learned through his own tragic experience.

"He was highly recruited, and he signed on with USM," Choretta explains. "His mom came and decorated his dorm room, and I think a day or two later she died in her sleep. It was sudden. She hadn't been sick or anything. She was only 52 years old. So throughout the years, we talked about that frequently: Just about needing that motivation and needing someone to keep you going because losing his mom was devastating."

Arizona was the only college to offer Major — in June 2018 — before Tony passed away July 28, 2018.

The young Madison Prep athlete tried to commit, but was declined by the Wildcats.

Tony preached patience and humility.

"When it came to colleges, he didn't much put his two-cents in," Major remembers. "He always just told me it would come. When he was alive, I only had one offer, but he always told me it was gonna come. He knew it was gonna come. He said just grind and keep my head down and stay humble.

"A lot of colleges weren't sure. They didn't know how I was gonna pan out. But I knew God had a plan for me."

Major continued working on his craft, and Tony provided as much support — and, when necessary, constructive criticism — as possible.

Choretta remembers Tony being confined inside, on oxygen, on some more difficult days, and Tony II running back and forth from the yard where Dakota and Major pushed each other through drills to the house with videos for their father.

Few lessons stuck with Major more firmly than one of the last, though.

"His dad had a conversation with him a couple days before he died and told him, 'Look, this could go either way. But I need you to stay focused. So he has a tattoo on his arm that says, 'Stay Focused.' And it's pushed him harder, to be honest with you."

Says Major: "He told me stay focused. And that's what I live by."

The long, tenacious 6-foot-2 former quarterback continued to see more action on defense as a junior en route to all-district first-team and all-state honorable mention recognitions.

And the scholarship offers and other recruiting letters began to pour into Madison Prep and the Burns home.

Florida State. Virginia. Mississippi State. Texas A&M.

One after another.

Tulane. Notre Dame. Memphis. Houston. Louisiana Tech. Kansas. Oklahoma. LSU. Florida. Texas Tech. Miami. Georgia.

And many more.

"It's like this football player that played in the 2018 season, I hadn't seen that guy before. I was like, 'I like him. I wanna get to know him. He's a stud,'" Choretta laughs. "He wants this. He wants it. Major's a humble guy. He's a fun guy. He's a lovable person. He'll give you the shirt off of his back — I've seen him do it, literally. He'll give you the last dollar he has, if you need it, but you won't know it's the last dollar.

"But, when he gets on that field, he's not giving the last dollar. He's not giving you the shirt off his back. He's not giving you anything. It's like he has an alter-ego. When he's out there on that field, I don't know that kid. He's fierce, and he is a force to be reckoned with. I've just seen his work ethic get better. I've seen him become more hungry."

Major headed to camps, combines and 7-on-7 tournaments this spring like a young man possessed.

Even as the offers and accolades piled up, he always felt more to prove and to perfect.

"Honestly, going into those camps, I had prayed to God and put in the work, so I knew with that combination, I was going to accomplish that," he explains. "So I went out there thinking nothing less but achieving. That's just me. When I go into something, I just know I'm going to accomplish — and conquer. So I really didn't surprise myself."

Major earned top defensive back recognitions at several stops, including invites to this summer's Nike Opening and this year's Under Armour All-American Game.

But as he remained focused on the not just months, but years ahead, a drive for continued perfection of his craft began to help steer his college search.

"I feel like I'm nowhere near close to my ceiling," Major says. "I feel like I still have a lot to learn, and I'm looking forward to learning from the best. I just know someone out there is always better than me. And I'm not just talking about college, or high school. I'm talking about NFL-wise. So I'll never think I've reached my ceiling until I'm the best ever.

"I want that gold (NFL Hall-of-Fame) jacket."

He had seen defensive backs such as Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu, Jamal Adams and Greedy Williams star 8 miles down the road at Tiger Stadium and establish themselves as future NFL standouts.

And he saw his best path to similar greatness being the same tutelage.

"What stands out to me is (cornerbacks) coach (Corey) Raymond," Major says. "Coach Raymond played for LSU and in the NFL before, so he knows how it feels to be a player and can relate to his players. And he's putting other players in the league, which goes a long way, numbers-wise. You can see from your eyes, but the numbers don't lie either. So I feel like he can develop any DB and make him great.

"I feel like other schools who consider themselves 'D-B-U' are gonna be mad, but I feel like LSU is the real 'D-B-U.'"

Major had actually grown up as much a fan of Florida as of any college football program because of a deep admiration for former Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and his game.

"When I dipped into the recruiting pool is when I started to fall in love with LSU," he says. "Game days, going up on campus. Just the people of Louisiana, they'll support you. I love the people of Louisiana, and I know for a fact they'll support this decision."

Major is confident — as always — in his decision, because he trusts his foundation.

He's seen each college opportunity arrive as a new blessing in its own way and managed to never feel overwhelmed by an often-confusing process during an undeniably difficult.

"Before my father passed away, he started to ease up on me on a lot of stuff and letting me make more of my own decisions," When I turned 14, he told me, 'It's time to grow up. There's no time to be a kid anymore.' So he eased up when I got to high school, but I think he helped enable me to make great decisions so when he passed away it was more of a smooth transition. I didn't have problems with knowing what to do because I felt like I knew he would want me to do."

Major credits his family's support of one another for their navigation of not only life decisions, but just their daily lives.

"It hasn't even been a year yet," he says. "So what's helped me get through, what's helped my family, is just waking up seeing each other, just bright, smiling faces, going to church, coming closer to God and knowing he's in a better place now."

Choretta had a particularly keen understanding of how crucial that support system would be after years of long discussions with Tony about losing his own mother and their attempts to prepare their sons to cope with a similar tragedy.

"So after he passed away, those conversations just kept resurfacing," she says. "So I just make sure my kids have anything they need — that extra nudge, that extra hug, that extra 'I love you,' that extra 'Are you OK?' Because I am going to raise three successful boys. It's going to happen."

She, Dakota, Major and Buddha stick together.

"The Burns Team," as she calls them, attends one another's events, celebrates one another's successes and picks one another up in more difficult moments.

Had Major chosen another university out of state, the family would likely have followed.

Instead, those next steps will remain in familiar territory.

"They know it's a dream of mine to be able to play college football. And my mom's not gonna have to go anywhere," Major smiles. "She's gonna be able to come to every home game. And I'm gonna try to make sure she comes to every away game. My family's gonna be here. And most of my family lives in Mississippi, so they're just right around the corner, so they'll be able to come to the games too. There's nothing better than that, balling in front of your family."

Choretta almost can't express the significance.

Each Friday evening in local stadiums already takes her back to Texas about 18 years ago.

The years ahead in the 102,321-fan Tiger Stadium seem almost unbelievable.

"Even now, when he's playing high school ball and I hear the name through the loudspeakers, it still sends chills down my arm," she says. "When you're carrying your child and saying this was going to happen, and then to have it come full-circle for him, I'm excited. The high school speakers are the smaller speakers. But when we get to Death Valley — oh my God, the first time I hear his name. I don't know. I just don't know how I'm gonna feel.

"The first time I hear it, I'll probably break down crying, because it will be like that name came full-circle, but to not have Tony there to nudge him and be like, 'Hey! You hear that name through the loudspeaker!? I told you! I told you!' It's going to be emotional. But I can't wait."