Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
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BY BRAD FRANKLIN A T SOME POINT IN THE future, maybe offensive guard Ross Bur- bank and defensive tackle David Dean will come to the line of scrimmage regularly without seeing the other on the opposite side of the line. It'll be an existence that the redshirt fourth-year team captains, featured side by side on the front of UVa 2015 media guide, haven't had since they were in the eighth grade in Virginia Beach. The two weren't exactly strangers by the time they arrived in Charlottesville. Both three-star recruits in the class of 2011, they coincidentally decided to commit to the Cavaliers about a month apart during the spring of their junior years. Though they are very different in terms of their personalities, the two have found a common ground on the field and in their drive to get better that has fueled their respective careers. The 6-4, 310-pound Burbank caught on in the interior of UVa's offensive line as a redshirt second-year and was a third-team All-ACC pick by college football expert Phil Steele going into this season. Though he has bounced between the center and guard position, he's got 19 total starts (and counting) to his credit through four games this season. Meanwhile, the 6-1, 290-pound Dean has started 27 games (and counting) at defensive tackle for the Cavaliers in his career. He racked up 40 tackles and eight stops for loss as a redshirt third-year, giving him high hopes for what he'd be able to do in final year of college ball. That's a big part of why he was a third-team All-ACC pick by Athlon this preseason. Through four contests in 2015, he had nine total stops, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. Burbank and Dean both remember facing the other before even getting to high school, though Dean — who starred at Green Run High School — recalls Burbank — who was a standout at Cox IRON SHARPENS IRON Team Captains Ross Burbank and David Dean Have Brought The Best Out Of Each Other