Burkhart Deserves to Catch On

If I had the power, receiver Jason Burkhart of Crescenta Valley High would have a college football scholarship.

For now, here’s what everyone is missing:

In a 28-23 loss to Hart last season, Burkhart caught 11 passes for 150 yards and completed a 36-yard pass. In the last three years, no team has given Hart a bigger scare in the playoffs.

After the game, Burkhart received an emotional hug from his father, Ray.

“It was a tear-jerker,” Ray said. “I knew he had played his heart out.”

Said Burkhart: “I honestly didn’t know whether to take off my pads. I had hoped schools would pick me up after that. Coaches were telling me, ‘You’re going to be playing on TV someday.’ I said, ‘All right, let’s do it.’ ”

It’s Feb 7, letter of intent day. With the phone not ringing and the mail box empty, Burkhart accepts his fate. No scholarship offer is coming.

“It was my dream, but it didn’t work out the way I wanted,” he said.

He caught 73 passes for 968 yards and nine touchdowns his senior year. He’s 6 feet 1, 190 pounds and runs fast but apparently not fast enough.

“Nobody tells you why they don’t give you [a scholarship],” Burkhart said. “They just tell you, ‘Sorry, we don’t have anymore to give.’ ”

Said Coach Alan Eberhart of Crescenta Valley: “He was a great high school football player. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite big enough or fast enough. I think the colleges are looking for a certain size standard and a certain speed standard, and when they don’t meet it, they’re going to find someone else and teach them to catch the ball. It’s a shame but it’s reality.”

There was a brief period in February when Burkhart considered giving up football.

“I thought about not playing,” he said. “I didn’t know if it was worth it. But that was only for a day. It struck me, ‘There’s more to work for.’ ”

Burkhart doesn’t let adversity affect him very long.

“In one ear, out the other,” he said.

Maybe it has something to do with his third-period class as a teacher’s aid. He works with severely disabled high school students, swimming with them in the pool.

It’s not a class he took for an easy A. It’s a class he took to make a difference.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s so much fun. They go through so much and I just like helping them out and teaching them sports. A lot of them can communicate with you. They understand what’s wrong with them. They don’t want to be made fun of.”

He pulls the students around the pool if they can’t swim. He encourages and inspires them.

Burkhart was the only Crescenta Valley player invited by Eberhart to help coach next season’s team during spring football. He works with the receivers, passing along insights and showing patience beyond his years.

About once a month, Burkhart goes fishing with his father. They sit on a boat at Castaic Lake, the radio usually turned to some sporting event.

“I’ve already accepted the fact I can live without him playing football,” Ray said. “He’s my fishing buddy.”

Burkhart’s parents never pressured him to play sports. But once he started, they were always there to support him.

“Whatever I do, they want me to be the best at,” he said.

In the fall, after he made several big catches, he’d tell his coach, “Throw it to me, throw it to me.”

“He flat out always tried to get better,” Eberhart said. “Jason is going to catch 100 balls a day.”

Burkhart will play for the East in the East-West All-Star game at 5 p.m. Sunday at Birmingham High.

It won’t be his last game. He plans to attend Glendale College and take another shot at convincing a four-year school he can play.

In 19 days, he’ll dress in cap and gown, receive his diploma and end his high school days.

There won’t be any regrets.

“I loved it,” he said. “It was the greatest experience of my life.”

What will he remember most about high school football?

“Getting psyched up, hearing the drum beat as I walked on the field,” he said. “They were playing the drum beat at an assembly last week, and when I came in, I said, ‘Oh man, there’s no more high school games to go to.”

Burkhart is excited about the future. “I just want to show people what they missed,” he said.

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Eric Sondheimer’s column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com