You know the Burton Burns who’s coached eight running backs from the University of Alabama practice fields off Hackberry Lane and onto NFL squads.

You’re familiar with the Burton Burns who honed the first Heisman Trophy winners in the program’s history and had a third represent in New York City as a finalist. You know the guy who received a minute-long thank you from Derrick Henry during last year’s acceptance speech. You may even know the Burton Burns who turned down overtures and pleas from a sitting Louisiana governor to break the color barrier and become LSU’s first African-American player in the 1970s only to forge his own path at Nebraska, or you may have heard that he was the son of a World War II Marine veteran awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. But you don’t know Burkie. His family and friends call him Burkie, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone, even those who coach and go against him in the cutthroat world of recruiting, say a single bad word about the man who turned 64 last week. It was a birthday filled with phone calls and messages, many from former players who remain rigidly loyal to their coach. There is the easy-to-identify excellence from Burns the coach. Crimson Tide running backs have run for nearly 15 miles since Burns signed on to coach the position back in 2007, a total of 25,850 yards and 299 rushing touchdowns. Nearly all of the starters have been drafted into the NFL.

Then there is the side of the man fewer see, a man so completely heartbroken by the death of a former player that for a time after the young man’s passing no running back was allowed to sit in his seat in the meeting room. Burns is a tough and unrelenting task master, but he’s also a big softie, a loving father of four and grandfather of two, who cares for his players old and new alike like they there were a part of his own family. It is in those competing ideals that you’ll find the real Burns. Call it the duality of Burkie. Find yourself on an Alabama practice field and you’ll undoubtedly be fascinated by the running backs. No, not by the the sheer size of them or the number of great players you’ll spot — although that in its own right is a testament to Burns’ eye for talent and recruiting ability — but in how hard he pushes them. Mark Ingram, UA’s first Heisman Trophy winner, arrived in Tuscaloosa from Flint, Mich., a long way from home and with a lot to learn. “He expected you to know defenses, learn defenses, know fronts, learn how to tell where pressure is coming from, all that,” Ingram said. “How to be violent with your cuts, one-step cuts. He was just on you consistently.” You can’t play for the former Nebraska fullback (1971-75) without a firm understanding of the fundamentals: footwork, mastering how to press the hole, how to properly carry the ball, learning how to block, importance of a sharp cut upfield. And if you fail to execute those things he can dress you down. Those qualities of demanding perfection and not settling for anything less are things he learned playing for legendary New Orleans high school football coach Otis Washington at St. Augustine. Washington coached at the school for 11 years (1969-79) and lost a total of 17 games. Burns took those lessons with him to Nebraska. “Burton would knock your teeth out,” former Cornhuskers running back teammate Tony Davis said. “Burton played like he coaches. He’s a technician, and he’s a teacher, and he does these things right. He’s got that rare combination of the ability to teach attitude as well as technique. He’s just so damn good. He was like that as a player. So this stuff that he’s doing now, it doesn’t surprise me.” After Nebraska, Burns returned home to New Orleans and took a job working for Washington at Saint Augustine. “I hired him sight unseen,” Washington said. When Washington went to Southern University, Burns joined his staff in 1981. From day one he was always a running backs coach, and from day one he demanded a certain style of play. As a player, he tried to run over you. He coaches the same way. That trademark toughness is his calling card and it carries over to his players. Alabama runners aren’t exactly known as scatbacks picking their way at the edges of defenses. Their reputation is of physical down-hill runners. Directly or indirectly that is reinforced every day with Burns at practice. “Burkie is a guy who is not going to let anybody outwork him,” his brother Ronnie Burns said. “He’s going to teach the fundamentals. He’s going to make sure those guys do the drills to perfection and make sure they know why they’re doing those drills. “When he recruits a player, he’s looking for a certain mentality of player. Obviously they’re talented but they have to have that mental edge to them, too. ‘We don’t give up. We don’t quit. We follow all the way through.’ And I think he teaches that in his drills. He gets fired up when he’s coaching.” That tenacity in his coaching style isn’t just something he preaches. He lived it. It was the way he played, the only way he knew how to. “I will tell you that of the 10 or 11 running backs you’d pair up against and go against each other, I always tried to avoid Burton because he would just knock your (freaking) teeth out,” Davis said. “There is no ease up. It was always you just got drilled. With Burton he was 5-10, 5-11, 230 pounds and he could run and he had power. He had that snap. When he arrived to the pile the fricking pile exploded.”