FOREST, Va. – Gallaudet University had no answer for Travis Burton (Pikeville, N.C.) on Saturday afternoon as the sophomore rewrote the record books and wrote himself into Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Defensive Player of the Week honors for the Guilford College football team, grabbing the recognition for week five, ending on October 4^th, as announced by the conference offices on Sunday afternoon.

Recording 3.5 sacks and 4.5 tackles for a loss, matching his dominant line from week one against Greensboro, Burton ties himself and Jarrod Russ '20 for third-most sacks in a game in program history, as well as tied for eighth-most TFLs in a single contest by a Quaker. Just eight players in all of Division-III football have racked up 3.5 sacks or-more in a game this season, with Burton being the only one to do so twice this fall. The same is true for his TFL's total, albeit with 16 total players reaching that threshold. Overall, the sophomore linebacker accumulated a career-best 12 total tackles and while only three of them were solo efforts, all of those went for a loss. He also added a pass break-up in Guilford's 55-0 victory.

On the season, Burton's sacks total is up to 8.5 already, good for a tie for seventh-most in a single-season in program history still with half the season remaining. At the national level, with his outburst, he rocketed himself back near the top of the leaderboards for both TFLs, with his 3.0 per game ranking third, and sacks, where his 1.70 average is good for fourth. His totals of 15.0 TFLs and 8.5 sacks rank first and second in the nation respectively as well.  

From a team standpoint, Burton played a major role in Guilford restricting the Bison to a mere 130 yards of total offense, just 71 on the ground and 59 through the air in a shutout showing. GC held their opponent off the scoreboard for the first time since their 2024 season-opener against Greensboro College. The yardage total permitted by the Quakers is the fewest since allowing Catholic University to move the ball just 71 yards on October 1, 2016.

Burton becomes the first Guilford defender to be recognized with a conference weekly honor since Jaylan Richardson '24, MBA '25 who got ODAC Defensive Player of the Week recognition for week one last fall. He, paired with Shane Shapiro (Jacksonville, N.C.), who got conference Offensive Player of the Week in week two, combine to be the first GC duo to win league weekly honors since Tristan Bailey (Statesville, N.C.) and Bailey Baker '23 in back in 2022.

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