Many athletes who come into college sports do so with a dream and a vision about where their athletic careers might take them.

And like most new recruits, AJ Burgin believed his basketball career was going places when he signed with Idaho State in the fall of 2020.

With one season left as a Bengal, though, Burgin has come to the realization that in addition to basketball, he wants to take full advantage of the academic opportunities being a scholarship athlete can offer.

“When I was deciding my classes in March of 2023, I knew that I didn’t redshirt and I didn’t get a COVID year,” said Burgin, who is heading into his senior season on the Idaho State men’s basketball team. “I knew that my athletic eligibility expired after four years. I wanted to use it to the fullest and get my master’s degree. So that’s what I did. I took 12 credits over the summer and then 21 in the fall and spring, respectively.”

As a result, Burgin graduated this past May with a double major in management and marketing.

“He’s not the only player that’s gotten it done in three years, but he might be the only player that has done it without coming into college with a bunch of college credits already,” said ISU basketball coach Ryan Looney. “I‘m happy for him. He’s going to leave ISU with not just his bachelor’s degree, but a master’s as well.”

When Burgin signed with Idaho State, he was coming off an All-CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) junior year when he averaged 22.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists as a 6-foot-4-inch guard for San Diego High School. Partly because of the COVID pandemic and his inability to make the rounds of summer camps before his senior season, he was not highly recruited. But Burgin was still confident he could be a major contributor on the Division I level. He admits his career at ISU hasn’t turned out exactly as he planned.

“I’d be lying if I said it has,” Burgin said. “Everyone at a Division I program, they were the guy in high school. It’s not necessarily coming to terms with that, but it’s just accepting that like everyone puts in the work, everyone is great and everyone is here for a reason. I mean I definitely say it’s helped with my humility.”

In his three seasons at ISU, Burgin has played 83 games with seven starts, all as a freshman. He has averaged 3.6 points a game, has 53 assists to 59 turnovers, shot 34% from the field and 29% from 3-point range.

He stepped up a bit last season, improving his scoring average to 4.8 points, hitting 42% from the field, 33% from 3, compiling 28 assists to 22 turnovers and collecting 17 steals.

Burgin believes he’ll continue to improve in his senior season, which he hopes will give him the opportunity to play professionally somewhere after he graduates from ISU.

“One, to say I did it,” Burgin said of his professional ambitions. “Two, because I don’t quite know what I want to do after basketball. So playing professionally would give me more time to think about it. I’m getting my master’s in finance, so I know I want to be somewhere in the business realm, but probably not an office job. Corporate life seems kind of fun, but I know a lot of people who say that before they get into it.”

Burgin is a bright, thoughtful and witty young man. In the middle of last basketball season, Alex Bolinger, one of his professors in the College of Business, sent an unsolicited email to the Journal extolling Burgin’s virtues as a student and a young man, not just an athlete.

“I am amazed at what a well-rounded individual he is,” said Bolinger, a professor of management. “In addition to being a major contributor to the basketball team, AJ can play multiple musical instruments, he has enormous talent for sketching and drawing and he also has a strong interest in photography.”

“Some might define it as ADHD, but I’ve never been diagnosed,” said Burgin jokingly of his multiple interests. “I know I love learning new things.”

Burgin learned to play the violin in fourth and fifth grade and taught himself both the piano and saxophone in high school. He took music theory throughout high school, and actually considered majoring in music at ISU, but concluded a music degree, “Only gets you a band teacher’s job.”

“He has been an instrumental part of our ‘Collaborative Creativity’ class this semester, which is writing a book about the history and future of Zoo Idaho,” Bolinger noted.

If all that isn’t enough to keep him busy, Burgin’s new love is cooking. He and his girlfriend are regular fans of the show, “Master Chief.”

“It looked fun and I enjoy knowing what’s going in my body,” Burgin said.

His best dish?

“I don’t say it’s my best dish, but it’s the dish I’ve gotten requests for from people,” he said. “It’s potato soup. I definitely don’t think I would have learned how to make it had I not moved to Idaho.”

While seven of his ISU teammates from last season chose to enter the transfer portal, Burgin made the decision to remain at Idaho State. He admits he felt a bit “left behind” by all the teammates that transferred, but he feels like Idaho State and Pocatello are his second home.

“I know that staying here, I have a home here,” he said. “Home is something I don’t want to take for granted. I know a lot of people bounce around, hoping for the next big thing, the next best thing, and they just overlook what’s right in front of them.

“Staying here, I get to develop relationships with the faculty and staff in the College of Business,” Burgin continued. “I’ve made so many good relationships with professors, coaches, players. Me staying in one spot, while everything else is moving around me, I’m in the middle of the melting pot. It’s fun to see.”

As with every season, the goal of Burgin and his teammates in the upcoming season is to win a conference title, something that hasn’t happened at ISU since 1994. He sees a potential role as a leader on a team with 10 new players, though he acknowledged a lot of the newcomers are as old, or older than he is, with all of them coming from either four-year schools or junior colleges.

“I’ve been with coach Looney now for three years, coming up on our fourth,” Burgin said. “I feel like our relationships has gotten stronger since we’ve been around each other for so long. I know what he wants and I’m hoping that experience can just turn into some leadership that I can give to the newer guys. I can’t say some of the younger guys, because the majority of them are still older than me.”

Looney is thankful for Burgin’s loyalty to the Bengal program.

“I think it’s awesome,” Looney said. “Truthfully, at this level of college basketball, it’s not very common anymore. We had a lot of talks about it during the offseason. AJ is not just a worker in the classroom, he’s a worker on the court, too. We thought it was important to have that back in our program.”

Looney’s recommendation to Burgin on the basketball court is to simplify his game.

“He needs to continue to shoot it better and better from the 3-point line,” Looney said. “He does a better job when he simplifies things on offense. If he can focus on catch and shoot and not necessarily dribbling it too many times, he’s pretty darn good in that area. We need him to continue to grow defensively, too.”

Burgin has learned to appreciate Looney’s advice.

“Something I told all the new guys, ‘If you do what coach Looney says, he’s going to rock with you and everyone is going to know that he rocks with you,’” Burgin said. “I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t want that and just have a good time here.”