Blake Burdette | |
Birth Date: | 19 January 1980 |
Birth Place: | Minneapolis, United States |
Height: | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
Weight: | 116 kg (18 st 3lb ; 256) |
Ru Position: | Hooker |
Amatyears1: | 2002-2005 |
Amatyears2: | 2006-2007 |
Amatteam1: | Utah Utes |
Amatteam2: | NYAC |
Clubs1: | Leicester Tigers |
Clubs2: | Utah Warriors |
Apps1: | 0 |
Apps2: | 4 |
Points1: | 0 |
Points2: | 0 |
Years1: | 2007 |
Years2: | 2019 |
Ru Clubupdate: | 31 December 2020 |
Repyears1: | 2006–2007 |
Repteam1: | United States |
Repcaps1: | 9 |
Reppoints1: | 0 |
Ru Ntupdate: | 31 December 2020 |
Coachyears1: | 2008–2013 |
Coachyears2: | 2015–2017 |
Coachyears3: | 2018–2019 |
Coachteams1: | Utah Warriors |
Coachteams2: | Penn State University |
Coachteams3: | Rugby Utah Selects |
Blake Burdette (born January 19, 1980, in Minneapolis) is a rugby coach and former American rugby union hooker or prop. He was a member of the United States national rugby union team and made his international debut in 2006 against Uruguay.[1] Burdette played for the USA Eagles in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.[2] Currently, he has returned to playing professionally with Utah Warriors having come out of retirement aged 39, 12 years after previous professional rugby playing experience.
In 2002, Burdette played as a University of Utah football walk-on.[3] In his senior year, Burdette was nicknamed the 'Utah Man' on the campus' football team.[4] Burdette played every game in the 2004 season for the Utah Utes football team, and played for the Utes as an 4x All-American rugby player (2003-2006), before dedicating his time to playing professional rugby in England.[4] [5] His England rugby career lasted only one season due to injury.[3]
In 2007, Burdette joined the Utah Utes rugby team as assistant coach, taking over as head coach in 2009, but resigned after the team was suspended for misuse of branding.[6]
In 2015, Burdette was hired as head coach of The Pennsylvania State University's Men's Rugby Team.[7] Burdette is the first full-time, university employed head coach in the history of PSU Rugby.