The last time Deion Burks was repping the old gold and black on a football field, he was the center of attention for all the wrong reasons.

In the fourth quarter of Purdue's Citrus Bowl loss to LSU, former quarterback Michael Alaimo pushed the ball down the sideline to the streaking Burks, who had to readjust in the air as the pass was behind him. The speedy receiver was unable to make the grab and hit his head on the turf at Camping World Stadium.

"Very scary situation," Burks said of the play. "My momentum took me down, hit my head, and the defender fell on me, and kind of hit my head. I couldn't really remember a lot at that moment."

Burks stayed down for several minutes while medical personnel rushed to his side. After being stabilized on a spine board, he was carted off the field and sent to the hospital. Burks received treatment at the hospital and was discharged shortly after.

The redshirt sophomore eased his way back into things over the next few months but is now fully recovered with spring practice in full swing. As he makes his return, Burks has shown improvement in the Boilermakers' new Air Raid system, brought on by offensive coordinator Graham Harrell.

"Sometimes early on, we had to talk to him about, you're rushing things. ​​Understand what we're trying to do like you don't have to get there like crazy fast. We need you to get there when the quarterback wants you there," Harrell said. "So I think he's getting more and more comfortable with it and understanding timing better, and he's done a great job taking coaching."

Burks began his Purdue career playing in the complex Jeff Brohm offense but now shifts to a simple scheme that allows explosive players like him the ability to play free. That simplicity has allowed Burks to pick up on the new Boilermaker offense quickly.

"I feel like this offense is – kind of easier to take off from last year because it's an Air Raid offense," Burks said. "They can have options pretty much what they run, you're not really thinking as much, so I feel like it's an open offense, so I don't feel like it's too hard to really adjust to."