With the college football season over for the overwhelming majority of the landscape, it is time to start paying attention to the transfer portal. Like it or not, the transfer portal is already seeing big names throwing their hat in the ring in search of more playing time or a bigger stage to showcase their talent. One of those names is Deion Burks — the 5-foot-11, 195-pound wide receiver who spent the last three seasons on the Purdue football team — so here are the best transfer portal destinations for the Boilermakers' wideout.
Burks' numbers haven't been the loftiest for the Boilermakers. He had 804 yards and seven touchdowns on 63 receptions during his three seasons at West Lafayette. He never found much playing time until this season with Purdue featuring receivers like David Bell and Charlie Jones while Burks was there.
But Burks did play well as the No. 1 receiver for the Boilermakers this season. Unfortunately, he wasn't featured in as potent a passing attack as Bell and Jones were. However, Burks did lead the team in receptions (47), receiving yards (629), and touchdowns (7), and racked up roughly a quarter of the team's passing yards and 47% of the team's receiving touchdowns.
Deion Burks has plenty of ability. He just wasn't able to showcase it consistently at Purdue. The question now becomes: where can he best do so now that he is in the transfer portal? Two places stand out in particular.
Louisville Cardinals
The Louisville Cardinals stand out as the destination that makes the most sense for Burks for a multitude of reasons. The main reason? Jeff Brohm, the coach who recruited him to Purdue is now the head coach at Louisville.
Brohm has a history of getting wide receivers drafted in the NFL. Even back when he was the head coach at Western Kentucky, Brohm helped Taywan Taylor find his way to the NFL. At Purdue, receivers like Rondale Moore, David Bell, and Charlie Jones were all drafted in the first four rounds of the NFL Draft the year they declared. Brohm already may help one receiver (Jamari Thrash) at Louisville get there after this season.
This brings up the second reason why Burks would make sense at Louisville. They could use another wide receiver. Even if their dynamic receiver Jamari Thrash returns next season, Louisville doesn't have much around him. Thrash has more than double the receptions and receiving yards that Louisville's second-leading receiver (Chris Bell) does. Deion Burks would make a ton of sense as an addition for Louisville out of the transfer portal.
Oregon Ducks
The Oregon football program has had a ton of success operating out of the transfer portal. The most notable example has been plucking Bo Nix out of the portal after he transferred from Auburn, but there are other success stories there too, especially at wide receiver. Oregon got wide receiver Tez Johnson out of the portal after he transferred from Troy. Johnson has 70 receptions for 942 yards and seven touchdowns this season. That should appeal greatly to someone like Burks.
Oregon will be a team of transition next year. They are literally transitioning to a new conference in the Big Ten. Their two leading receivers in Johnson and Troy Franklin could leave for the NFL, as will Bo Nix. Oregon has a lot of money they can deploy in the portal to reload, however, and that could make it high on the Deions Burks destinations list. He'd make for a great fit in Eugene.
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