Jayden Burnett embraces UCF opportunity after breakout senior season at Cardinal Mooney
UCF may have found one of the better under-the-radar prospects in the state of Florida.
Jayden Burnett spent his senior season racking up 113 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, four interceptions and six blocked kicks for a Cardinal Mooney team that won a Class 2A state championship, and doing it all while barely registering on the recruiting radar.
The 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker was a late bloomer who didn’t become a full-time football player until his junior year, and the Knights liked what they saw enough to offer him a preferred walk-on spot that he didn’t hesitate to accept.
“It was really slow because people look at your sophomore, freshman tape and I didn’t have any of that,” Burnett told UCFSports.com. “I went really under the radar.”
Burnett played corner at Bradenton Christian as a freshman, then broke his collarbone as a sophomore. He transferred to Cardinal Mooney as a junior, mostly for the basketball program.
“When I got here, I was like, maybe I should try out for the football team too,” Burnett said. “I liked it, and it started from there.”
The football staff liked what they saw. Burnett was a long, athletic kid who impressed immediately in 7-on-7, and when they asked if he could hit, he answered that question in a hurry.
“They told me I was hitting pretty good,” he said. “They were very surprised a basketball player could hit like that.”
The staff put him in a versatile rover/nickel/star role, and Burnett went to work. By his senior season, he had become one of the best players in the state at his level.
In 2025, Burnett was named Second Team All-State in Class 2A and helped Cardinal Mooney to a state championship with a 14-1 record. In 15 games, he racked up 113 total tackles, 70 solo tackles, 21 tackles for loss, four interceptions (two returned for touchdowns), three fumble recoveries (one for a touchdown), three blocked punts and three blocked field goals.
Still, the offers were slow to develop. He mostly got looks from Division II and III schools. Bigger programs that came to Cardinal Mooney’s campus were there for other players and didn’t pay much attention to others.
“Coaches would come for them and they would overlook me,” Burnett said. “We had a great wide receiver, great quarterback and just a whole bunch of weapons. So they were coming for them and weren’t really looking at anyone else.”
FBS schools typically wrap up the majority of their high school recruiting in the summer before a player’s senior season, then shift their focus to the portal.
Once the dust settled this spring, Miami came forward with a PWO offer. Liberty, Boston College, Rutgers, Louisville and Cal got wind of his ability, and expressed interest as a grayshirt to enroll next January.
But UCF was the one that felt like home.
Burnett had attended a game early last season, then came back for the Space Game. Both times, he liked what he saw. A few weeks ago, he visited for a spring practice session, and that’s when everything clicked.
“When I got there, I sat in the team meeting at 7 a.m.,” Burnett said. “I came in and watched the linebacker team meetings with Coach (Mark) D’Onofrio and watched their film. I really like how he puts that together — how everything he does in practice is for a purpose. I don’t want to go somewhere where we’re practicing something that we won’t do in the game.”
D’Onofrio walked Burnett through a full PowerPoint presentation on his linebacker schemes during the visit.
“He loves his players, but he holds them very accountable,” Burnett said. “If you mess up, he’s on you. But after, he’ll tell you he loves them and just wants the best for you. That speaks to me because it’s tough love. That’s what my parents had for me, and that’s what I expect from a coach.”
D’Onofrio, who has produced 22 NFL players as a position coach, also told Burnett something that resonated: some of his best players were walk-ons.
Two days after the visit, the UCF recruiting coordinator called with the official preferred walk-on offer.
“I said, I’ll take it,” Burnett recalled. “You guys seem like a home and I’d love to be there. My parents were hugging each other. That’s what I wanted to do.”
A family connection didn’t hurt either. His mom attended UCF and loved it, and the proximity to home in Sarasota was meaningful to Burnett personally.
“If my parents can come see a game, I feel accomplished,” he said.
He also had some influence on teammate Connail Jackson’s recent decision. The 2027 Cardinal Mooney running back committed on Saturday.
“We talked about UCF. I told him that it would be a great place for you,” Burnett said. “I know he’s going to be a great player because I’ve seen what he can do. UCF has a great scheme because I’ve seen their practices and how they run their plays. It’s downhill running, and that’s what he loves to do.”
Burnett will enroll at UCF on May 26th, getting a jump on the summer and continue developing at a position he’s still relatively new to. He’s eager to get started.
“I’m very, very excited,” Burnett said. “I was adopted at a young age, and all I wanted to do for my family was give back to them. Sports was a good way to get to a good college so I could get a great job if football doesn’t work out, and be able to provide for my family and give back to my parents.
“What I wanted was a great education, which UCF has. That’s why they were one of my top schools.”
SIGN UP: Join the UCFSports.com Community for $1
Join the message board discussion with diehard UCF fans in The Dungeon
