Cole Burgess has been driven to help his Cortland Red Dragons get to this stage. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

By Joe Sager
D3sports.com

When Cole Burgess chose to come to Cortland, he expected to grow as a person and a football player. 

Now a senior, he can say he’s achieved both – with even more to come. 

Burgess has experienced more highs than lows with the Red Dragons, but he’s happy the rollercoaster ride has led him to the Stagg Bowl, where Cortland (13-1) meets North Central (14-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. in Salem, Virginia.

“It’s surreal,” he said. “It’s a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to be here.”

An incident three years ago during the coronavirus epidemic put any such Stagg Bowl trips in doubt for Burgess. During the fall of 2020 with Cortland and other collegiate athletic programs in New York shut down for precautionary reasons, Burgess was living off campus. A Halloween party at his residence drew a noise complaint and it was discovered the gathering exceeded the limit of people allowed. 

That infraction led to a two-semester suspension from Cortland. It also cost Burgess the 2021 football season. That, alone, was tough to take. But, it was especially brutal for Burgess, whose game was blossoming. 

He was coming off an all-conference performance in 2019 when he led the team with 52 catches for 904 yards and was a dangerous return specialist.

“It was a real shock not being in school,” he said. 

Instead of pouting or feeling sorry himself, Burgess went to work. Not allowed on campus during those two semesters, he found other ways to improve himself.

“I always knew I was going back,” he said. “It was hard keeping focused. Overall, I did a pretty good job. I just focused on a main goal of being ready to play the best brand of football I can play. I worked on strength training in the gym and did a lot of running to make myself bigger, faster and stronger. It’s cool seeing all the hard work paying off.”

When he returned to school and the football program, he was a changed person, physically and emotionally. 

“I was 10 to 15 pounds heavier than before with added muscle and I was so much stronger. Overall, I was a more powerful, stronger football player,” he explained. “Being away from the game, it made me appreciate the game more, too. I learned lessons when I wasn’t playing. It led me to be the person I am and the player I am today.”

While not playing was difficult, personally, for Burgess, watching his Red Dragons teammates advance to the second round of the playoffs and not being able to help them burned him more. That’s what motivated him the most and why he’s so thrilled to play for a national championship with his teammates now. 

“When I wasn’t with the team, this is the stuff I was thinking about every single day and working toward,” he said. “I looked back at my journal and I was writing about this. I turned back to one day, March 5, 2021, and I wrote ‘Cortland Red Dragons – National Champions.’ Now we’re here.

“At the time, I didn’t know what good could possibly come from the situation,” he continued. “You can only understand life backwards. I wouldn’t be here if I ended up playing that season.”

Burgess, who ranks near the top of multiple Red Dragons career statistical receiving categories, is the team’s leading receiver with 76 catches for 1,241 yards and 14 touchdowns. He’s just one of many offensive threats, though, on a unit that averages 509.6 yards per outing. 

“That’s what makes us so great. We have great receivers and running backs, too,” he said. “I just like to be a guy that can do everything. I can take the ball out of the backfield on jet sweeps, or go over middle or take the long ball to the house. I like opportunities any way I can get them. But, as long as we’re winning, we don’t care who gets the ball. We have all the pieces and we’ve just kept on winning and here we are.”

With his last week of college football practice and final game slated for Friday, Burgess is just trying to enjoy the experience. 

“It’s bittersweet, but I am just living in the day and taking it all in and just grateful get to these opportunities still,” he said. “At the same time, we want to win. I think winning this game would be the best sendoff any college player could have.”