UW’s Ben Burr-Kirven: The big fish that got away from Stanford

Tom FitzGerald, San Francisco Chronicle
Ben Burr-Kirven (SHP '15) is the nation's leading tackler (122 total tackles), and was recently named a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award, given to the best defensive player in College Football. 


When Pete Lavorato coached football at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton, he advised his players not to show off.

“I don’t want my players ever to be boastful on the football field,” he said in a phone interview Thursday. “I wanted them to be humble. If they did something well, great, but give the ball back to the referee and come back to the sideline.”

That admonition applied even to his greatest player, Ben Burr-Kirven, who thrived on offense and defense.

In one game, however, after making a big play, Burr-Kirven couldn’t restrain himself. He pounded his chest.

“He came to the sideline, and he knew that I was not going to be happy,” Lavorato said. “I didn’t say a word to him, but he sprinted right to me and said, ‘Coach, I will never do that again. I apologize.’ And he walked away.”

Burr-Kirven is the type of player coaches dream about. He makes his teammates better because of his all-out determination.

Now that he’s a senior linebacker at Washington, he has filled out to 6-foot-1, 221 pounds. That’s not huge by inside-linebacker standards in college football, but he’s second in the nation in tackles with 13.6 per game. Only New Mexico State’s Javahn Ferguson has more (14.1), and he’s not playing the competition Burr-Kirven has in the Pac-12.

Stanford, which didn’t recruit him out of high school even though he was practically next door, takes on Burr-Kirven and the Huskies on Saturday night in what is expected to be a rain-swept Husky Stadium.

Burr-Kirven is a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award for the nation’s finest defensive player. He had 13 tackles in the Huskies’ season-opening loss to Auburn. He had 20 tackles against Arizona State, the first Husky to get that many in 22 years. He also had two strips and a fumble recovery. In an overtime loss to Oregon, he had 19 tackles.
 
If you want to spot Burr-Kirven on the field, look where the ball travels after the opposition snaps it.

This is no surprise to anybody who saw him play for Sacred Heart Prep, which he led to a Northern California title as a senior running back and linebacker.

Lavorato, who now coaches at King’s Academy in Sunnyvale, said he knew Burr-Kirven was special from the beginning.

“Typically when ninth-graders come in, you interview them,” he said. “Well, he interviewed me. He asked me what kind of defense we were going to play. What our philosophy was. That kind of stuff. I said to myself, ‘Wow, this guy is kind of precocious.’

“Right away, I could tell he cared very much about football. Some guys are good athletes; Ben was beyond that. I could tell he wanted to play football at a higher level.”
 
According to Lavorato, about 10 or 12 schools recruited him, including some in the Pac-12. One day, Lavorato went through a half-hour video session, turned on the lights and found that Chris Petersen, then in his first year as UW’s head coach, had watched the whole thing.

He was hot on Burr-Kirven’s trail.

Stanford, however, was not, even though he was a 4.0 student.

“He was a little banged up toward the end of his junior year and couldn’t come to our camp,” head coach David Shaw said. “He was one of those guys (you wondered), ‘Is he a safety or is he a linebacker?’
 
“All I know is on the high school film, all he did was tackle everybody. At Washington, all he does is tackle everybody. He’s hard to block. He doesn’t stay blocked. He’s got great acceleration and anticipation. He’s one of those guys that plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

Lavorato suspects that Burr-Kirven’s size didn’t impress Stanford and that the Cardinal already were well stocked with inside backers.

Washington did not make players available to out-of-town media this week. Last year, Burr-Kirven told the Bay Area News Group he was “not bitter at all” toward Stanford. “It worked out perfectly,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to go back and change anything if I could. I found the right place to be and the right coaching staff to play under, so no issues there.”

Lavorato is convinced he can play in the NFL. “It’s a cliche, but he’s got a huge heart,” he said. “He plays the way he plays because of his heart and because he cares so much about his teammates.”

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Sacred Heart Schools Atherton

Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton

150 Valparaiso Ave
Atherton, CA 94027
650 322 1866
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12