OMAHA, Neb. — Jamie Burrow, the 41-year-old brother of LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, started a few weeks ago to study up on the Heisman Trophy.
The elder Burrow reached out multiple times to his friend and former Nebraska teammate, Eric Crouch, the 2001 Heisman winner, with questions about the ceremony and to ask for advice on acceptable attire at events around the presentation of the award. Jamie wanted to know more about the voting process — how it breaks along regional boundaries and other historical items about the most prestigious honor in college football.
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But in recent days, Jamie and Dan Burrow, Joe’s other brother, largely stopped worrying. They saw, like everyone else, that Joe was going to win the Heisman on Saturday night in New York, likely by one of the most sizable voting margins in the 85-year history of the trophy.
“It’s been absolutely incredible,” said Dan, 38.
Jamie and Dan Burrow, former Nebraska defenders, planned to travel this week to New York to celebrate the moment with Joe at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. They’ve tagged along for much of this football season with top-ranked LSU, set to play Oklahoma on Dec. 28 in a College Football Playoff semifinal.
Joe’s brothers were along for the ride, in fact, through early milestones in Joe’s life, his 2014 recruitment by Urban Meyer and Ohio State out of Athens, Ohio, and his 2017 transfer from the Buckeyes.
“We’re about as close as you can be, considering the age difference,” Jamie Burrow said.
This final chapter of Joe’s college career has rated as surreal for the Burrow family.
“We envisioned it,” Jamie Burrow said. “But thinking it’s a possibility and living it are two completely different things. Seeing what Joe has done isn’t surprising. But at the same time, it doesn’t seem like reality.”
Jamie played linebacker at Nebraska from 1997 to 2001, parallel to the career of Crouch, earning second-team All-Big 12 honors in his senior year as the Huskers started 11-0 and lost to ultra-talented Miami in the BCS championship game.
Dan walked on at Nebraska in 2000 and played through 2004 as a reserve defensive back.
Both elder Burrow brothers work in medical sales. Jamie lives in Omaha, Neb., with his wife, Codie, and two sons. Dan lives in Houston. He proposed last month to Jama Cash after the couple met in September 2018 when Dan traveled to Auburn to watch his brother’s third start for LSU.
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“She’s a Tiger,” Dan said. “She’s just the wrong kind.”
So, you see, this journey alongside Joe has proven fruitful for the Burrows in unimaginable ways.
“It’s been special for so many reasons,” said Dan, who’s attended all but one game in Joe’s two seasons at LSU. “It really has brought our family closer. We are so spread out — in Texas, Ohio, Nebraska, Louisiana — that I’ve probably seen my dad and my brothers more this year than in any two- or three-year period over the last 15 years.”
Their father, Jimmy Burrow, also played at Nebraska, and he coached as a graduate assistant at the school before following Frank Solich to Ohio in 2005. Jimmy retired after the 2018 season.
Joe has said often that he hoped as a kid and while in high school to play for Nebraska. Former coach Bo Pelini did not recruit him as a four-star, dual-threat prospect five years ago. Current coach Scott Frost passed on Burrow as a potential transfer in the spring 2018, with Adrian Martinez new to the program in Lincoln.
The lack of attention from Nebraska stung the former Huskers in the family and pushed Joe Burrow to succeed.
“He might have turned a chip on his shoulder into a boulder just to help with motivation,” Jamie Burrow said. “Our family relates more to the underdog than the frontrunner.”
All of it makes Joe’s ascension at LSU feel even more sweet to the Burrows. And it’s not about to stop. His accuracy as a QB and mobility have propelled Burrow to the top of The Athletic’s 2020 NFL Mock Draft.
“This would be on the upper end of what we thought was possible,” Jamie Burrow said, “but I’d be lying to you if I said I thought it could never be a scenario.”
Joe was born in December 1996 to Jimmy and Robin Burrow, stepmother to Jamie and Dan. Jamie was a senior at Ames (Iowa) High School; Dan was a freshman. Jimmy coached at Iowa State. A few months later, Jamie left for Nebraska. He redshirted in 1997 as the Huskers, with Frost at QB, beat Tennessee for a share of the national title.
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Soon, little Joe was visiting Jamie in Lincoln. When Jamie returned home to Ames, he occasionally baby sat. But Jamie paid little attention to the toddler. He’d put Joe’s favorite movie, “A Bug’s Life,” on TV and doze off, sometimes to awake alarmed that Joe had crawled up the stairs.
“It’s almost like Dan and I were not his brothers,” Jamie said. “We were sort of like these hybrid uncles.”
They stayed close as Joe grew into an elite athlete. The Burrows referred to Joe from a young age as “Super Burrow.”
“He has all of our strength and none of our weaknesses,” Jamie said.
Jamie, despite getting a brief taste of the NFL in 2002, was not blessed with superior athleticism. Dan lacked the size of his brothers.
“Joe got all the football IQ, competitive drive, leadership and intelligence,” Jamie said, “and then he got another level of athletic build and skill set.”
Early in 2018, after Meyer picked Dwayne Haskins instead of Burrow to replace J.T. Barrett at Ohio State, the Burrow brothers convened by conference call. Jamie and Dan advised Joe to look elsewhere. A few weeks later with Joe set to decide on his next school, Jamie called Dan. They put together a list of seven bullet points for Joe to consider — among them, the destination that would allow Joe an opportunity to play in the best program, against the best competition and to compete for the biggest prizes in college football.
Eighteen months later, look where he’s at.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think my little brother was going to win (the Heisman),” Dan Burrow said. “And now to think it’s going be sitting in his house — or in my dad’s house — that’s crazy.”
(Top photo of Dan, Joe and Jamie Burrow: Courtesy of the Burrow family)
