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Bryce Burnett creates his own legacy on his way to playing DI football
(Courtesy: @Bry24ce/Twitter)

Bryce Burnett creates his own legacy on his way to playing DI football

WESTVILLE, Ill. — Guy Goodlove has been the head coach at Westville High School for 27 years, winning over 140 games at the helm for the Tigers.

He’s won state championships and played in a number of postseasons, but he had yet to coach a player that went on to play NCAA Division I football.

That was until offensive lineman Bryce Burnett came into Westville and helped quickly turn the program around from a winless team in his freshman year to a playoff favorite in his senior year.

“We started the rebuilding process with Bryce and his class,” Goodlove said. “He stayed the course, did everything we asked him to do and it paid off in the long run.”

Burnett officially committed to Eastern Illinois on Dec. 15 for National Signing Day, becoming the first player during Goodlove’s Westville coaching tenure to commit to play football at a Division I school.

The 6-foot-4, 280-pound lineman got his first offer from the Panthers on June 5, 2021, and after an unofficial visit later in June, he verbally committed to Eastern Illinois on July 2.

“This has been my goal since I was five years old, and there’s nothing else I’ve ever wanted to accomplish more,” Burnett told The News Gazette in July 2021. “This accomplishment has kind of shown if you put in the work and the effort and you really strive and strain for that goal that nothing is impossible.”

Burnett, a future biochemistry major, felt right at home in Charleston as the school checked off all the boxes for him.

Not just that, but the football program itself was a perfect fit as everything from the coaching staff to the facilities was the place he wanted to set himself up at for the next four years.

The offer came after one of a number of camps he attended last summer, and it looked like an ideal match from the start.

“They approached me after the camp and talked to me and my family and expressed how much work I had put in,” Burnett told The News Gazette. “How they found me very coachable and how I’ve got a great set of skills to go to the next level.”

Goodlove noticed this special level of talent in Burnett well before his high school days, coming through the ranks of local football in the Westville area.

Once he came up to the high school, he and his freshman teammates had quite the task on their hands to help build up the Tigers program with a lack of speed and upperclassman depth on the roster.

“A lot of those kids in Bryce’s class really got some quality playing time as freshman at the varsity level,” Goodlove said. “They learned right away that if you want to be good at that level, you have to do the things you’re asked to by the coaches in order to be competitive by the time you’re juniors and seniors.”

Quickly, Goodlove and his coaching staff saw just how much of a leader Burnett would become as “one of a few players that was the first in the weight room and one of the last to leave.”

He helped set the example for others and continuously got better and better over his high school career.

That includes expanding his versatility as a player, playing multiple positions on the offensive line and even getting time as a defensive lineman.

“He knows what everybody’s job is on the field,” Goodlove said. “He was the general of the offensive line. He was like having another coach on the field. When you put a kid that has his work ethic and intelligence together in one package, the sky’s the limit.”

Now, after a successful senior season, Burnett will finish out his high school career and begin to prepare for FCS football at Eastern Illinois for this coming fall.

He’s left an indelible mark on Westville’s program, and while there will be some big shoes to fill in his place for the Tigers, more players will be following in his footsteps to create their own future legacies

“Bryce has helped sustain the work ethic within the program,” Goodlove said. “Every step of the way, all four years, he’s done it the right way. I’m very happy for him and I’m glad he’s getting this opportunity.”

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