There are times where academia just takes major precedence over athletics.
Take, for instance, the case of Nolan Burns, who has a very unique story to tell.
Burns, who attends the prestigious Infinity Institute High School in Jersey City (located at the former site of St. Paul’s of Greenville grammar school and later CREATE Charter), is a conscientious student with a bright future. A junior, Burns proudly owns a 3.2 grade point average and is pointing toward attending college in two years.
Burns was a little-used member of the Snyder football team last year, a team that failed to win a single game for a second straight year. Burns is able to play for Snyder because Infinity doesn’t offer football and Snyder lies within Burns’ home school district.
So this year, instead of heading out to football training camp in August, Burns was busy hitting the books.
“My mother wasn’t sure if I could handle both playing football and keeping my grades up,” Burns said. “I didn’t play much last year and that was extremely tough, especially since we were losing all the time.”
Enter Ray Marshall, the former Lincoln and St. Peter’s College standout player who spent a handful of years as an assistant coach at his high school alma mater. Marshall was given the dubious task of trying to turn around the Snyder program and lead the Tigers out of the 29-game losing streak that hovered about like a pack of vultures, hanging around since November of 2011.
Marshall said that he heard of Burns when he got the job, but then found out shortly after that Burns wasn’t going to play to concentrate on his studies.
“My assistant coaches all told me that I had to get to know Nolan Burns, because he could be something else,” Marshall said. “But it was tough. He didn’t go to the school, so I didn’t see him much. I just knew that his mother was holding him off the team.”
But midway through September, Burns pleaded with his mother to let him play football.
“It’s my junior year,” Burns said. “I knew I wasn’t going to get much of a chance to prove myself. I only have two years of football left. I wanted to play. I realized how much football was important to me. I told my mother that I would make sure I kept up with my grades. I decided to come back to play.”
However, Burns wasn’t exactly handed a helmet and shoulder pads and told he could play. Because he missed a month of training camp and two weeks of the regular season, Burns was going to have to earn his way back to a Tiger program that was already on the rise, having won a game over Newark West Side, snapping the streak at 29 straight losses.
“I was encouraged, because I knew Snyder hadn’t won any games since 2011,” Burns said. “It was a big reason for me wanting to come back. But I wanted to play. I knew that I wasn’t going to come in and take a starting spot. I knew I was away a lot and missed a lot. I knew I had a lot to learn.”
There’s where Burns’ intelligence kicks in.
“He understood the offense and knew what we were trying to do,” Marshall said. “He’s a very smart kid with a great football IQ.”
“I knew I had to learn a lot faster, because I missed so much,” Burns said. “I knew I had to work a lot harder.”
And then there was the athleticism.
“When I saw him for the first time and saw how big he was, I was impressed,” Marshall said. “He’s 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds. I thought I might have to put him on the line. But then when he got to practice, I saw how athletic he was and saw how he could run and run with the ball. I knew right there and then that I had to get the kid the ball.”
Burns broke into the lineup slowly, then got a few carries against Hoboken, collecting 83 yards on 11 carries. He had 97 yards against Hudson Catholic and would have gone over the 100-yard mark if not for a tackle behind the line of scrimmage late in the game.
Then, the Tigers faced Marist and it was like the sky had opened and dropped Nolan Burns right onto Caven Point Cochrane Stadium.
Burns had the performance of a lifetime, carrying the ball 18 times for 203 yards and scoring three touchdowns in the Tigers’ 40-0 win, giving the Tigers three wins for the season. It marked the first time Snyder had as many as three wins in a season since 1991 and was the first time in over 20 years that a Snyder running back eclipsed the 200-yard mark in a game.
How about this for a fact? Since 2011, Snyder had not won as many as three games in five seasons. The Tigers now have three this year.
Burns had no idea about the magnitude of his performance.
“I did not know I had 200 yards and didn’t know how long it had been,” Burns said. “It’s like a dream, playing the way I am. I didn’t know I had that much yardage until after the game and the coaches told me. It boosted my confidence a lot. Coming back after missing all I did and the games, I wasn’t sure I could get 100 yards, much less 200. I’m pretty surprised.”
Marshall knows that he has a standout football player. Burns also plays linebacker and in the four games he’s played, he is already the team’s leading tackler.
“Wherever we’re ready to put him at, he’ll play,” Marshall said. “But the first thing I said when I saw him run is that we have someone to use our running game through for the next two years. We have a go-to guy now, someone to build off for next year. I’m looking for great things for next year.”
And yes, there will be a next year, straight from off-season training through the start of the season.
“I’ve already been talking with his mother a lot lately,” Marshall said. “We’re going to make sure his grades stay up there.”
“I just thank my coaches for giving me a chance to play,” Burns said. “I definitely feel we’ve changed the culture this year that Snyder football is for real. We had historically some of the worst teams in Jersey City, but not this year. This is only the beginning for me. I have encouraged myself to only get better.”
Needless to say, the eye-popping performance of Burns has caught even the rookie head coach off guard.
“I’m very surprised,” Marshall said. “I didn’t expect him to take to the offense like that. I still watch the tape and I’m amazed at what he’s done. I don’t remember Snyder having a running back like that. I really think this kid is going to shock a lot of people again. He doesn’t know the magnitude of what he’s done. He’s not worried about the recognition and things like that. The kid just wants to win.”
So when the school day is over at Infinity, Nolan Burns climbs aboard the Bergen Avenue bus and greets his Snyder teammates in time for practice. He’s a true high school scholar-athlete now, thanks to his mom and the coaching staff at Snyder.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.
You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com.