Tim Burns Jr.

#3 · WR · Sam Houston5′10″ · 170 lb · Miami, FL · Northwestern Senior

Receiving yards392149th of 467 receivers Last gameL 3–24at Missouri State · Oct 27

Nextat Jacksonville StateSat Nov 7 · 7 pm ET

via gobearkats.com ↗

His most important play this season

Q3, 14:40 · Sam Houston down 4, takes the leadLandyn Locke finds Tim Burns Jr. for an 81-yard touchdownNew Mexico State at Sam Houston, week 8Q3, 14:40 · Sam Houston 17, New Mexico State 148181-yard touchdown pass8181-yard touchdown pass81-yard touchdown passTim Burns Jr. 81 yd pass from Landyn Locke (Sam Carpenter Kick)Watch from this play

All 2 of his plays on video

Tim Burns Jr.

WR · Sam Houston · #3

Beats you over the top. Second year in the Sam Houston receiving corps. First career honor, 2025: All-Conference USA. A game that shows it: 117 receiving yards and 4 receptions against New Mexico State — Week 8, 2026.

392 receiving yards · 18 catches · 3 receiving TD

Style of play

Play style

Stretches the field vertically. Every snap is a potential big play.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Josh MageeSouth Alabama · 2015 · 87% season match
Kendall ParhamUAB · 2019 · 84% season match
Cyrus AllenLouisiana Tech · 2022 · 77% season match
Damian KingLiberty · 2018 · 74% season match
Ja'Varrius JohnsonAuburn · 2022 · 73% season match

Fans

No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.

Sam Houston in the news

Sam Houston fires head coach Phil LongoThe New York Times Oct 28

Where to follow

The latest game

Against Missouri State on Oct. 27: 3 catches for 63 yards, 1 of 2 on third and fourth down. In the 7 games drawn here: 18 catches for 392 yards. Sam Houston has thrown to him 33 times in 244 passes.

First quarterSecond quarterThird quarterFourth quarter

L 3-24 at Missouri State3 catches, 63 yds
L 24-30 vs New Mexico State4 catches, 117 yds, 1 TD
L 3-16 vs Western Kentucky2 catches, 7 yds
L 3-35 at Liberty2 catches, 16 yds
L 14-49 at Texas Tech2 catches, 61 yds, 1 TD
W 59-0 vs Nicholls1 catch, 65 yds, 1 TD
L 21-24 at Troy4 catches, 63 yds

a catch, by its yardsa touchdownthrown to him, incomplete

Each game is split into its four quarters, so the columns line up from game to game; inside a quarter, plays keep their order. Third and fourth downs are marked under the line, bold when he moved the chains.

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2026	Sam Houston	18	392	21.8	3	81
2025	Sam Houston	12	228	19.0	1	59
Career		30	620	20.7	4	81

Season	Team
2026	Sam Houston	--	--	96	94
2025	Sam Houston	2	−15	306	12
Career		2	−15	402	106

Last game (Wk 9): 63 receiving yards, 3 catches.

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2026 season · 8 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	L 21-24@ Troy	4	63	15.8	0	19
Wk 2	L 17-23vs Tulsa	—	—	—	—	—
Wk 3	W 59-0vs Nicholls	1	65	65.0	1	65
Wk 4	L 14-49@ No. 11 Texas Tech	2	61	30.5	1	52
Wk 6	L 3-35@ Liberty	2	16	8.0	0	8
Wk 7	L 3-16vs Western Kentucky	2	7	3.5	0	5
Wk 8	L 24-30vs New Mexico State	4	117	29.3	1	81	Season-high 117 yds
Wk 9	L 3-24@ Missouri State	3	63	21.0	0	46
Total		18	392	21.8	3	81

Signature game

Week 4 · 2026

L 14-49

at Texas Tech

2 rec · 61 yds · 1 TD

With C. Joseph — 46.6 yards per punt · 9 punts · 4 inside the 20 · L. Locke — 195 yds · 2 TD · 2 INT · QBR 54.0 · 25 rush yds (8 car)

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 3 · Nicholls · 3rd and 6 · Q1 · EPA +6.59Locke to Burns Jr.: a 65-yard touchdown pass.
Week 8 · New Mexico State · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA +6.44Locke to Burns Jr.: an 81-yard touchdown pass.
Week 4 · Texas Tech · 1st and 30 · Q2 · EPA +6.36Locke to Burns Jr.: a 52-yard touchdown pass.
Week 9 · Missouri State · 2nd and 14 · Q1 · EPA +4.21Bailey to Burns Jr.: a 46-yard pass.
Week 9 · Missouri State · 3rd and 7 · Q2 · EPA +2.71Bailey to Burns Jr.: a 14-yard pass.
Week 8 · New Mexico State · 2nd and 19 · Q4 · EPA +2.56Locke to Burns Jr.: a 17-yard pass.

4 more plays

Week 1 · Troy · 3rd and 5 · Q4 · EPA +1.69Locke to Burns Jr.: a 14-yard pass.
Week 1 · Troy · 2nd and 6 · Q3 · EPA +1.62Locke to Burns Jr.: a 15-yard pass.
Week 1 · Troy · 2nd and 10 · Q1 · EPA +1.44Locke to Burns Jr.: a 19-yard pass.
Week 4 · Texas Tech · 1st and 10 · Q1 · EPA +1.25Locke to Burns Jr.: a 9-yard pass.

Where he ranks

Rec yards392149thAmong 468 receivers with 12 or more catches

Receptions18tied for 306thAmong 468 receivers with 12 or more catches

Yards / catch21.86thAmong 468 receivers with 12 or more catches

Rec TDs3tied for 108thAmong 468 receivers with 12 or more catches

Long catch818thAmong 468 receivers with 12 or more catches

Fumbles lost1tied for 49thAmong 126 receivers with 12 or more catches

154th in receiving yards, among all 2,086 FBS players with a receiving row this season, any position

Receiving touchdowns3tied for 9th in the Conference USA this season.

Conference ranks count every player in the conference with a row in that stat, any position. Career ranks count current FBS players, from the games in our log.

Opponents faced, by strength

Ratings of the games shown run from -17 to +18 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).

Receiving profile

Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth

How often he's targeted, and how well it works

18 rec · 392 yds · 3 TD

18 of 18 receptions matched to play-by-play

32 of 33 targets charted for true throw depth

Targets

3312% of team targets

Catch rate

55%18 of 33 targets

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

9% of targets (3)

100%catch rate

Air -2.0 · YAC 8.7 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

44% of targets (14)

36%catch rate

Air 5.0 · YAC 2.8 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

22% of targets (7)

86%catch rate

Air 13.4 · YAC 2.2 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

25% of targets (8)

38%catch rate

Air 41.5 · YAC 10.7 avg

55% catch rate on 33 targets · 12% of the team's targets · 38% catch rate on 8 deep targets (20+ air yds).

Teams and coaches

2 seasons under Phil Longo — 3-17 over that span.

2025Sam Houston2-10HC: Phil Longo · Balanced

2026Sam Houston1-7HC: Phil Longo · Pass-leaning

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 51 (#187 of 465). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

51Rotational starter #187 of 465?

11 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: yards / catch (99th percentile). Strength: epa / target (92nd percentile). Concern: catch rate (16th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / catch#7 / 569 · 99th pct

21.8

EPA / target#44 / 569 · 92nd pct

0.82

TD rate#84 / 569 · 85th pct

9.1%

Explosive rate#238 / 569 · 58th pct

12.1%

Catch rate#476 / 569 · 16th pct

54.5%

Box-score rates (6)

Yards / catch#6 / 468 · 99th pct

21.8

Long catch#8 / 468 · 98th pct

Rec TDs#108 / 468 · 70th pct

Rec yards#149 / 468 · 68th pct

392

Fumbles lost#49 / 126 · 33rd pct

Receptions#306 / 468 · 32nd pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

17th → 92nd percentile

Explosive rate

65th → 58th percentile

Catch rate

0th → 16th percentile

TD rate

18th → 85th percentile

Yards / catch

89th → 99th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2026 season · 8 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home4g	1.8	47.2	32.6	0.5
Road4g	2.8	50.8	18.8	0.2

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	1.8	35.3	24.6	0.3
Weeks 8+2g	3.5	90.0	25.1	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Phil Longo

Pass share

55.6%

278 pass / 222 run

Plays / game

62.5

8 games

Team sack rate

6.0%

319 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Pass-leaning.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

All-Conference

Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

2026 outlook

Outside shot to repeat All-Conference USA

Based on 2025: #49 of 52 Conference USA WRs

How the All-Conference USA base rate is computed

A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).

Tim Burns Jr.

This week

His most important play this season

Style of play

Similar players