{"id":80217,"date":"2017-12-31T09:05:17","date_gmt":"2017-12-31T14:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217//?p=80217"},"modified":"2019-06-17T09:57:38","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T13:57:38","slug":"peach-bowl-chequan-burkett-plays-dual-role-linebacker-family-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217//peach-bowl-chequan-burkett-plays-dual-role-linebacker-family-man/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217//","title":{"rendered":"Peach Bowl: Chequan Burkett Plays Dual Role of Linebacker and Family Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
Family. Love./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217/n
If there are two words that describe the 2017 Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ football team, those two words come to the forefront all the time. Defensive coordinator Erik Chinander mentioned it in Saturday’s press conference leading up to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl game at 12:30 p.m. Monday against Auburn, stating that credit for the team’s turnaround from 0-12 in 2015 to 12-0 in 2017 was largely about relationships./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217/n
“(The team) needed a little love from the coaches to the players, from the players to the players, from the players to the coaches,” Chinander said. “And it didn’t take long.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217/n
Chinander needn’t look any further than the middle of his defense for the proof of that familial love. Senior inside linebacker Chequan Burkett has felt that family bond — that love — in a couple different ways over the last year./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217/n
After graduating and with a young family back home, Burkett made what head coach Scott Frost called a “grown man decision.” Burkett was injured after the 2016 season. He had a young family at home. So, he decided to retire from football, begin a career and work to support and raise his family./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217/n
But he missed his other family /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217/u2013 his team. He missed his other love /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217/u2013 football./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217/n
“During my time away from football, me and my wife had a discussion that you have this skill, you have this talent,” Burkett said. “Just make the best of it. I had one more year, one more season of eligibility. We had a long talk. It was hard for her to see my go away for another six months. It’s hard for any long-distance relationship, plus having kids involved made it even tougher./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217/n
“That drove me for this entire season to play my hardest each and every game,” Burkett added. “I definitely had a reason, a why I was playing football. My family was my why.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/80217/n