Rookie Huskies quarterback Drew Burko has only played one game with the club, but with Huskie football in his blood, he is getting a lot of people excited about what he can do this season.

Burko has multiple family ties to the Huskie organization. His older brother Alex Burko also plays for the team and their father Darrell Burko played linebacker for the Huskies in the 1970s before being drafted by the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Darrell is now a defensive back coach for the Dogs and gets to be on the sidelines helping coach Alex and Drew every game.

Drew was redshirted last season with the Huskies in order to gain a year of practice with the team’s offence without having the season count against his five-year Canadian Interuniversity Sport eligibility limit.

Despite having his father’s football reputation to live up to, the 19-year-old quarterback isn’t bothered by his dad being on the coaching staff.

“There is not any extra pressure,” said Drew. “It’s more help for us because we [Drew and Alex] can talk to a coach anytime we want and he helps us out a lot.”

The youngest Burko says he is used to having his dad on the field for practices and games because his dad also taught him in high school at Aden Bowman Collegiate in Saskatoon. Darrell was the offensive coordinator for Bowman’s football team in Drew’s senior year.

During his four years at Aden Bowman, Drew left quite an impression. In his grade nine season, as a second-string quarterback with the senior football team, they won both a city and provincial title. Over the next three years he would lead the team to two more city titles and another provincial gold medal as the starting quarterback.

Drew also represented Team Saskatchewan twice at the Football Canada Cup. In 2010, during his second stint with the provincial squad Burko led the charge to a national championship as a part of the U-18 team.

Despite having so much prior success in football the quarterback still feels his first game as a Huskie is among his greatest memories in the sport.

“Running out from under the dog and playing in front of so many fans. It was an awesome experience,” he said.

Drew is entering his second year of studies in the college of Kinesiology but admits he is more focused on following his father’s footsteps and being drafted into the CFL one day.

The new Huskie pivot was not always big on football. In 2008 Drew was drafted into the Western Hockey League by the Spokane Chiefs while playing AAA midget hockey for the Saskatoon Contacts as a grade 10 student. He said that it wasn’t until grade 11 that he chose to focus on football more than hockey.

Besides his own father, Drew says it’s an NFL quarterback who shares the same name that inspires him.

“Either Drew Brees or Peyton Manning, those are my two favorite players.”

Burko also confessed that his one bad habit as an athlete is eating to much junk food. “Chips and candy, I eat a lot of that stuff. I try to eat right but you get yourself into the candy once in awhile when you’re feeling it.”

[box type=”download” icon=”none”]You can see Drew Burko in action at the Huskies next home game on Friday, Sept. 21 when they battle provincial rival Regina Rams at Griffiths Stadium.[/box]

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Photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf