Training Camp Notebook: Lorenzo Burns looks to lock down corner spot
At the end of every season, we see CFL teams add players to their practice roster. Those guys are usually athletes that these organizations want to take a good look at before the upcoming training camp a new months later. Sometimes, due to injury, those guys get on the active roster before the end of the year. Very rarely does one of those players get to start. But Alouettes corner Lorenzo Burns bucked that trend last year.
Burns signed with the Als on Sep. 9, played his first game on Sep. 21, and was starting games by the end of the month. He made 17 defensive tackles in five games, and he suited up and started the East Final in 2024.
“In this profession, you have to be ready at all times,” the 27-year-old said. “I’ve been in situations where I was flown into a place on Monday, practiced Tuesday and played on Thursday with limited reps. That was nothing new to me. I’m glad I got thrown in there because it gave me a head start coming into this year and getting used to the game and the speed of it.”
Lorenzo Burns
It helped that the Murrieta, California native was familiar with defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe, as the two were together in the USFL with the Birmingham Stallions.
“It’s a very simple but complex defence at the same time,” he said of Thorpe’s scheme. “We don’t make a lot of checks, and it allows us to just play. We keep things simple, and we know what we’re doing. We have great communication, and we can play fast, knowing enough to make plays on the ball.”
To prepare for the 2025 campaign, the first thing Burns did this offseason was rest. It had been a long and grueling year for the Alouettes boundary corner. He played for the Stallions from the spring until around July. He had a workout with the NFL’s Detroit Lions he had to stay ready for in August, and he then joined the Als the following month before wrapping up the season in November. That’s a lot of football.
“I played a year-and-a-half of non-stop football. I had to make my body rest,” he added. “When I came here last year, my body was fresh off a season in the spring. We didn’t get done until July.
“When the season was done, I took about three-and-a-half months off. I did nothing. I let my body recover. That was the biggest thing. I definitely feel it out here. I’m moving better and feeling better.”
Since the start of camp, Burns has been in the boundary corner spot with the starting defence. That’s the same position he occupied at the end of last year. And once this preseason is over at the end of the month, he’s hoping that he’ll be able to hold down that spot for the entire year.
TRANSACTIONS:
The Alouettes announced that they have signed American running back Travis Theis (South Dakota) and defensive lineman Kori Roberson Jr. (Southern Methodist). The team released American offensive lineman Travon Taylor.
