MANHATTAN — He wasn’t wearing a Fitbit during the game, but if he had Morgan Burns would have logged some big numbers.
Burns, a starting cornerback for Kansas State, was running all over the field trying to defend a Texas Tech passing attack that produced 384 yards in the Wildcats’ 59-44 loss last Saturday.
He also is K-State’s kickoff returner, and his record-setting day made him the Big 12 special teams player of the week. Burns’ first kickoff return was a 93-yard touchdown, and with six more returns he set a K-State record with 221 yards.
“The thing that impressed me so much,” K-State coach Bill Snyder said Monday on the Big 12 teleconference, “is that here he is on a long drive with their offense, and corners have to line up every snap, and he plays 14-15 snaps or whatever the number happens to be and then he jumps right back in as a kickoff returner knowing there’s a lot of running involved there.