One of the biggest mysteries in all of Virginia high school sports right now is why Zayden Burks Zayden Burks 6'0" | 188 lbs | RB Skyline | 2027 State VA , the leading rusher in the state in 2025, the MaxPreps Offensive Player of the Year, 1st-team All-State, and D3 Offensive Player of the Year, doesn’t have more FBS offers.

Burks truly is a “hidden gem” after rushing for 2,897 yards and 28 touchdowns as a junior, while averaging 9.5 yards per carry. He was a full-time player on defense for Skyline as well, where he recorded 65 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 3 INT’s, and 1 sack.

He recently attended camps at Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Maryland, but only has offers from JMU and Maryland at the FBS level. Burks should garner some more Power Four interest at the very least in 2026 if he puts together another video game-like season as a senior.

It was good to see Zayden Burks Zayden Burks 6'0" | 188 lbs | RB Skyline | 2027 State VA for the Hawks, he looked good from the limited action I saw him. Will be interesting to see how Coach Gilbert uses Burks coming off his historic junior season where he rushed for over 2,000 yards. Teams will be keying on him with good reason, the young man averaged a ridiculous 9.5 yards per carry last fall.

Zayden took home RB MVPs honors from the showcase after showing off his high level agility all day long. In every event and drill Zayden displayed elite start-stop ability, quick feet, and impressive wiggle. Zayden was lights out in 1v1s as he made defenders look foolish with his routes and cutting ability. He was able to get defenders on their heels, off balance and create great separation. Zayden can push vertical and stick his foot in the ground to make crisp cuts and burst out of his breaks. He’s got nice twitch, make you miss ability, good hands for RB, and all of that was on display Saturday. The question poised to Zayden in the pre-showcase article was can he show to be the best RB there? He passed the test and I expect him to be a prospect whose recruitment takes off this spring/summer.

Not much else more needs to said about Zayden 2k, but he passed the eye test to all the coaches and scouts on site Saturday. He will be an FBS level running back in two years, with schools such as Maryland, Old Dominion and Liberty showing interest. Burks was getting open against the linebackers and corners during the individual work, by the end nobody wanted to cover him. He is so smooth out of the backfield and you could see it on every rep he took with the RB group. Obviously earning a top performer and mvp spot, Zayden Burks Zayden Burks 6'0" | 188 lbs | RB Skyline | 2027 State VA ascension continues to evolve.

Zayden is an athletic running back with quick feet and good lateral agility, change of direction, and burst. He displays solid contact balance and acceleration through the hole to the second level. In the open field, he shows the vision and the ability to evade second level defenders. Shows good creative ability, finding lanes through traffic and penetrating defenders, utilizing his athleticism to bounce outside and create a positive play. He comes in as our 11th-ranked running back in this update.

Hudl / X

I’m sorry but when you rush for over 300 yards in one game I have got to include him for the Weekly Game Balls. Zayden Burks Zayden Burks 6'0" | 188 lbs | RB Skyline | 2027 State VA came into his junior season with a lot of hype and I think it is safe to say to that he has exceeded expectations. Poised to hit the 2K rushing mark, Burks had an absurd evening (once again) in Skyline’s 6th win in a row. 26 carries for 345 yards puts him on a ridiculous 13.26 yards per carry average. Meridian will probably have nightmares about Burks for weeks with his 430 all purpose yards. One week out from the playoffs the question going around the region seems to be, how do you stop or possibly slow down this superstar?

While Skyline is not exactly Northern Virginia I had to include Zayden Burks Zayden Burks 6'0" | 188 lbs | RB Skyline | 2027 State VA for his unreal outing Friday night. In the Hawks dominating win the junior had 294 rushing yards with 3 touchdowns. An absurd 8.9 yards per carry, Burks is starting to heat up as Skyline begins their playoff march once again.

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Until yesterday I had not had the privilege of seeing Zayden Burks Zayden Burks 6'0" | 188 lbs | RB Skyline | 2027 State VA play besides his game film. While I was very impressed, what stood out more was watching him make defenders look silly yesterday. This dude is a explosive and their are many reasons why he is highly ranked and lead the Hawks deep into the playoffs a year ago. He is explosive a crisp route runner and a playmaker, the kid really is the total package.

Not ranked or even put on our watchlist a year ago, Zayden Burks Zayden Burks 6'0" | 188 lbs | RB Skyline | 2027 State VA has a chance to be one of the top ranked running backs when the rankings are updated in January. Burks tore thru the Northwestern District on his way to an eye popping 1,642 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Already a basketball star for the Hawks, Burks has good size at 5’11 and is one of the shiftiest backs I have seen. Look at his cuts below the kid has vision that you do not see on a number of college running backs.

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This sophomore sensation has really been on a terror in recent weeks for the Skyline Hawks and it continued last week. Zayden Burks Zayden Burks 6'0" | 188 lbs | RB Skyline | 2027 State VA once again went over the 200 yard rushing mark in a stomping over the Hawks big time rival Warren County. On the night he had 228 yards on the on the ground with 3 scores extending Skyline’s winning streak to 6! The Hawks have been humming on all cylinders since mid October and are a squad you do not want to see in the playoffs.