Kellan Burke is a Swiss Army Knife for the 8-1 Minot Magicians.

His contributions in all three phases affect the game in a variety ways for the second ranked Magi.

“Extremely competitive individual. Coming into the season, he said I can do whatever is needed, whether it’s running back, wide receiver, quarterback and it’s just up to us to get him in the right spot and make sure he gets those touches,” Head Coach Chauncy Hendershot said.

The Junior is listed as a receiver and defensive back, but he has 73 yards and a touchdown on the ground, plus a 40 yard touchdown pass against Mandan on his resume, adding to a laundry list of skills for opponents to prepare for.

“Any defense that’s study us, we’re study them. They probably know I can throw it and probably saw my throwing touchdown,” Burke said.

Coming into this season, Burke was one of three players with a chance to win the starting quarterback job, which ultimately went to Senior Lucas Beeter.

“I wanted to [play quarterback], but they’ve spent more time in the offseason, but I came straight from baseball and I worked at it and I want to get quarterback next year for sure,” Burke said.

Burke’s biggest impact on the team this year comes on special teams, as he kicks PAT’s, field goals and kickoffs, a skill he developed as a middle school soccer player.

“I used to love the sport but I had to pick one or the other and I had to let go of one and I picked football so that kind helps with my kicking abilities I guess. When I’m kicking a football, I’m kicking it just like I would a soccer ball,” Burke said.

But if he wasn’t busy enough, the do-it-all Junior also returns kicks and punts, collecting yards that don’t directly impact the basic stat sheet.

“Punt return has been huge. That’s an unsung stat. We pick up a lot of first downs on punt return because he’s able to catch the ball and then advance it and that’s just been huge for us and we have a tremendous amount of trust in him back there,” Hendershot said.