Heel Tough Blog: 2025 Scouting Reports- Travis Burgess

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The high school football season kicked off on Friday night across the nation, including in the state of Georgia. The top matchup in the state was where our attention was as the Tar Heels’ 2026 4✮ QB commit, Travis Burgess, and the Grayson Rams kicked off a highly anticipated season as they faced an opponent they had seen often in recent years, Collins Hill. Despite a significant weather delay and rainy conditions for most of the night, it was a dominant second-half performance that was the difference for Grayson, who ran away to a 51-3 victory.

Much like the team, Burgess had a strong second half that turned a frustrating start into a fairly successful night. After starting the night 2-2, including the 23-yard touchdown pass on the opening drive to Ashton Turner, the Collins Hill defense turned up the heat on him, leading to some mid-game struggles. He would miss on his next six passes and fumble the ball twice, one of which he lost to the Collins Hill defense.

The good news is, Burgess would rally with a big second half. He completed each of his final two passes, a 39-yarder to Olafemi Hunter and a 74-yarder to Dawson Quarterman, which both went for touchdowns to give Grayson a comfortable lead. On his final drive of the night in the middle of the third quarter, he would find the endzone, this time with his legs on a 41-yard quarterback draw right through the middle of the Collins Hill defense. With the team up 45-3, the staff sat him down for the final quarter and a half as backup Deuce Smith closed the victory out for the Rams. Burgess finished the night 4-10 for 136 yards and three touchdowns and had eight rush attempts for 88 yards and a touchdown with two fumbles.

This may not have been Burgess's best performance, but it was a resilient one, where he made the plays he had to in leading his team to a blowout victory. It was clear that the weather played a factor in why some of his throws were off target, but his dime on the deep throw to Quarterman shows the type of arm talent that he possesses. He really shined with his legs on Friday, showing some nice burst and speed in the open field, something we didn’t see a ton of on his junior tape. This year, the expectation is that we see more designed run for him and this game shows why that deserves to be the case. One thing that he may need to work on a little bit is protecting the football better, but with better weather conditions in the coming games, expect Burgess to return to form starting next week against Rabun Gap-Nacoochee.

This coming week, we will get a look at one of the Tar Heels’ top in-state targets in the 2027 class, Davion Jones in his high school season opener.