NC State gets commitment from reigning Big South MVP DJ Burns

NC State has landed 6’9 reigning Big South MVP, DJ Burns, from Winthrop.

LET’S GO LET’S GO 🐺🌹 #smoothoperator pic.twitter.com/0Yw6sKMjS6

— DJ Burns (@beastboyburns) May 11, 2022

Burns, a former 4-star recruit, left high school a year early to join Tennessee. However, he was redshirted there with a weight issue and decided to transfer the following season. During that transfer process, Burns visited NC State but eventually chose Winthrop.

Burns transformed his body and went on to become a star big man for the Eagles. After two seasons of averaging over 10 points per game, he turned it up a notch last season, pouring in 15ppg and shooting 62.6% from the field. No that’s not a typo. Burns was 7th in the NCAA in FG% last season, on his way to snagging Big South MVP.

Because of COVID rules, Burns has 2 years of eligibility remaining, however, it’s likely that due to age and trajectory he’s only banking on being in Raleigh for one season.

We’ll get into this more in an upcoming article, but this marks the first season that Kevin Keatts is putting together a more traditional lineup, with back-to-the-basket bigs involved in the mix. Burns give NC State a whole different dimension than we’ve seen during the Keatts era. He’s a big you can run things through. He’s a good passer and obviously a potent offensive weapon. Between him and Mahocic on the block, State’s offense is going to have a whole different feel next season (and we couldn’t be happier about that).

Check out his impressive highlights.