SANTA CLARA, CA – Wagner High School alumnus and former UTSA offensive lineman Spencer Burford is preparing for his second NFL postseason game Sunday versus the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Divisional Round.
Selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round, 134th overall of the 2022 NFL Draft, Burford has turned heads from the first day he reported to rookie minicamp.
Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan is thrilled with how Burford is playing.
“He’s done a great job,” Shanahan told KSAT 12 sports. “Some of the people we lost on our o-line last year and some of the new things we had to do this year going into the draft. We took a shot on him there in the fourth round. He had a lot of talent. Got to play a lot there, but we didn’t know if he’d be able to come in and be ready right away. We thought we might have to develop him a little bit, and for him to come in and us throw him in there, right in OTAs, and him be able to hold that spot down, he’s done a great job.
Coach Shanahan added that Burford continues to impress and progress each game.
“Battled through an ankle sprain about a month ago, but it was really cool because I thought that last week was his best game of the year, so he’s been getting better each game, and he’s got a chance to really help us here over the next few years,” said Shanahan.
The 49ers beat the Seattle Seahawks 41-23 on Wild Card weekend, Burford’s first taste of the NFL playoffs. KSAT 12 sports told him that Shanahan said he’s coming off his best game of the season.
“I’m just going to build off of it,” Burford said. “At the end of the day, like I said, there’s always room for improvement. I thank him, but I’m looking forward to making sure, like I said, just making sure we can do some more things in order to build off what we did last week and hopefully just keep improving throughout this postseason.”
Burford will now get to experience the Cowboys-49ers for the first time, and it just happens to be a record-tying 9th playoff game between the two rivals.
“I hear about it all the time, especially being from Texas,” Burford said. “You know, I grew up Cowboys fan, but at this point, I mean, everybody pretty much knows what it is Bang Bang Niner Gang. So, we’re going to go out there and do what we’re supposed to do and play our brand of football.”
The winner of this game will advance to the NFC Championship to face the winner of the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.
Additionally, Burford spoke on running into former teammates on the NFL field and maintaining relationships with former coaches.
Here’s part of our conversation yesterday with @SpencerB74 talking about @UTSAFTBL, @CoachTraylor and seeing @_Tariqwoolen during the NFL season. #BirdsUp @InstantReplaySA pic.twitter.com/CAfDmG4OUr
— Larry Ramirez (@LRam2) January 21, 2023
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