When Guyer’s Antonio Burton tore his anterior cruciate ligament two years ago in a summer varsity basketball league, it might have been hard to imagine what happened on Friday.

The senior-to-be missed his entire sophomore season of football due to the knee injury before returning last season to help lead the Wildcats to a 12-3 record and a Class 4A Division I state semifinal berth in his first varsity season.

On Friday, with just one varsity season under his belt, the safety gave his oral commitment to play college football at Kansas, passing up offers from Arizona and UTEP.

Oral commitments are non-binding. The first day a Class of 2010 recruit can sign a national letter of intent is Feb. 3.

“I like the coaching staff and the school,” Burton said after his trip to Lawrence, Kan. “It’s a really nice place. The academics are good, too.”

Burton is the fourth member of Guyer’s incoming senior class to commit to a Division I program, following Taylor Bible (Texas), Cole Underwood (Stanford) and Luke Russell (UNLV).

The Jayhawks went 8-5 last year under head coach Mark Mangino, including a 42-21 win over Minnesota in the Insight Bowl.

But the Jayhawks’ recent resurgence was highlighted during the 2007 season, when they finished 12-1 with an Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech.

“I like the team a lot,” Burton said. “I think they’ll get better progressively. I think they’ve got a lot of good recruits that look good and they’ll get better.”

Burton knows about teams coming out of the doldrums, as he was part of Guyer’s historic breakout season in 2008.

As a junior, Burton finished with 77 tackles, eight pass breakups and a team-high four interceptions. He also blocked a punt in Guyer’s state quarterfinal win over Wolfforth Frenship and recovered it for a touchdown to key the Wildcats’ comeback from a 21-0 deficit.

Guyer head coach John Walsh said he knew Burton’s return to the field last year would be a shot in the arm to his defense after Burton showed promise on the freshman squad three seasons ago.

“He’s such an explosive player and playmaker that not having him was a big hit for us,” Walsh said. “Getting him back as a junior was kind of like getting an all-district move-in. We knew we’d use him on defense and in the return game. He ended up being every bit as explosive as we thought he would be.”

After the injury, to achieve offers from Big 12 and Pac-10 schools after just one season of varsity play was a feather in Burton’s cap.

“Personally, it meant a lot to me,” Burton said. “Some people that have been playing four years still don’t have a scholarship. It means a lot because I came back and knew that if I worked hard and was dedicated, those types of things would happen for me.”

ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com.