Former University of Arizona football player pleads guilty to Murder
Former University of Arizona football player Davonte Neal has pleaded guilty to the 2017 killing of 25-year-old Bryan Burns.
At the time of his arrest in 2022, Neal was working as an assistant coach at Idaho State University. He entered a guilty plea last week in Maricopa County Superior Court to one count of second-degree murder and is expected to serve a prison sentence ranging from 20 to 25 years.
The incident occurred in November 2017 when Burns was fatally shot after his car was sideswiped near Interstate 10 and Elliot Road in Phoenix.
According to court records, Neal, 31, may have been motivated by jealousy over Burns’ relationship with the mother of his daughter.
Before his college football career with the Arizona Wildcats, Neal played at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale.
NFL Draft Diamonds was created to assist the underdogs playing the sport. We call them diamonds in the rough. My name is Damond Talbot, I have worked extremely hard to help hundreds of small school players over the past several years, and will continue my mission. We have several contributors on this site, and if they contribute their name and contact will be in the piece above. You can email me at nfldraftdiamonds@gmail.com