Trotwood-Madison junior cornerback Cameron Burrows, a five-star recruit who has made a verbal commitment to Ohio State, spent much time this spring finishing an English project that wasn’t due until his senior year.

But Burrows is trying to get a jump on his college career, and he’s been knocking out the academic requirements he needs to graduate a semester early and enroll at OSU in time for spring football in 2013.

“I plan on taking a starting position as a freshman,” he said. “You get there early and you can learn everything you need to know. If you come in during the summer, around June or August, the teaching is over and the depth charts are already done. You don’t really have a chance of starting.”

Burrows isn’t the only high school football standout pushing up his graduation date to bolster his chances of playing in college right away. Early enrollees were rare 10 years ago, but the numbers have escalated dramatically.

In 2002, only 15 players chose that path in Bowl Championship Series programs. In 2010, a record 141 players enrolled early.

The number dipped last year to 120, according to the NCAA. But while the figures for 2012 aren’t available yet, another spike is expected.

The Buckeyes had nine early enrollees this spring among their 25 recruits, while Miami (Fla.) also had nine, Alabama eight, Texas and Oklahoma six and Florida and LSU five.

OSU coach Urban Meyer, who won two national titles at Florida, has seen how players enrolling early are usually better off in the long run.

“When we were at Florida, that was the first time I really started hearing about that,” he said. “At one time we had nine. We had one class where we had Cam Newton, (Mike and Maurkice) Pouncey, Aaron Hernandez and Joe Haden. Of the nine, five were NFL first-rounders.”

“We certainly don’t push that or don’t demand that because that’s a big family situation — you’re giving up your senior year at home,” Meyer said. “I have two daughters in college, and I wanted them at home as much as I could. I think that’s a new wave. There are advantages to going to school early.”

Although many ended up redshirting anyway, some early enrollees have turned out to be major contributors. Maurice Clarett, one of the trend-setters in 2002, became the first freshman to start at running back for Ohio State since World War II and helped the Buckeyes win a national title. Quarterback Tim Tebow had a major role in Florida’s march to the 2006 crown and later won a Heisman Trophy.

Southern Cal’s Matt Barkley, another early entrant, has been a four-year starter at QB and will go down as one of the greatest players in Trojan history for having carried the program through a tumultuous time with NCAA sanctions.

Beyond sometimes being difference-makers, early enrollees also are attractive to college programs because they can be counted with the previous year’s class. That’s how Miami signed 33 players for 2012 and still stayed within the NCAA maximum of 25.

“I think all of us sometimes worry about accelerating the process too much and what certain kids might be missing out on. But generally speaking, kids who are that focused, it’s very difficult to second-guess their decisions,” said national recruiting analyst Allen Wallace, publisher of SuperPrep Magazine.

“They don’t put a premium on staying for a second semester in high school, and for a lot of kids, I think they’re done with it. It’s not like they need to experience six more months of school, and they can get a real competitive jump.”

C.J. Barnett, a fourth-year junior from Northmont, is a starting safety at OSU and believes enrolling early gave him an edge on the field and in the classroom.

“As far as school and stuff, it helped me get that settled,” he said. “Adjusting from high school to college is a pretty big deal because you don’t have your parents to make sure you’re doing homework. College classes are harder than high school. Getting up here helped me just get used to the college life and manage my time.”

The drawback for Barnett was giving up basketball as a senior with the Thunderbolts. Although he wasn’t a prominent player, he formed some tight bonds on the team.

“Missing my senior year playing basketball was tough because I just enjoyed it,” he said “But in the grand scheme of things, I want to play football for my life. And missing one year of basketball isn’t really that big of a deal to come up here and try to put myself in a position to play.”

The NCAA requires student-athletes to complete 16 core courses to be eligible in Division I: four in English, three in math, two in science, one additional year in English, math or science and four more in any of the above or a foreign language. That may not sound like much, but serious football players already have extra demands on their time because the sport has become a year-round endeavor.

“During two-a-days in the summer, I had to be in class for government,” said OSU sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller, an early enrollee from Wayne. “I had to go to class, then go to football, then I had to go to class again. It’s a grind.”

But Miller, who became a starter in the fourth game of his freshman year, believes the extra effort paid off.

“Getting used to the system school wise — and also how big the people are you’re playing against — it helps a lot,” he said.

“I missed my coaches and some of the players I played with all the time, hanging out with those guys. I missed being home a few times. But I grew up and became more mature.”

That ambitious plan, though, isn’t for everybody. While the numbers likely will continue to grow, the number of freshman football players who enrolled early at BCS schools last year was still fewer than 8 percent.

OSU sophomore defensive lineman Michael Bennett, a Centerville grad, had high aspirations in track and opted not to skip his final season. The Elks are glad he stuck around, too. Bennett finished first in the state in the shot put and second in the discus, helping the team to a runner-up finish in D-I.

But another factor motivating him to stay was that he didn’t want to miss out on his prom or other fringe benefits of being a senior.

“That was huge,” he said. “Once you get to college, it feels like more of a job — especially as a freshman when you don’t know people. The classes are harder and football is definitely harder. (The decision) had a lot to do with just enjoying the rest of my senior year and doing track with my friends.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris @DaytonDailyNews.com.