Denzel Burke on recent losses in The Game vs. Michigan: 'It's our job to change that narrative'

Denzel Burke came back to Ohio State for a reason and part of that is to beat Michigan. With three straight losses to the Wolverines, the Buckeyes have a lot of pressure.

But it’s clear Burke has a mission to elevate his play and the rest of the team going into 2024. With Big Ten and national title aspirations, this is this group’s final chance.

The change in narrative starts now for Burke.

“It’s not it’s not something I really think about,” Burke said at Big Ten Media Days. “But we didn’t get it done the past few years, but it’s our job this year to change that narrative.” 

While Burke said he didn’t think about Michigan, he was asked a follow up question about Ohio State’s countdown clock to play the Wolverines.

“I guess I can take that back,” Burke said with a little laughter. “It is something we think about everyday. Yeah it’s tough, but at the end of the day we didn’t get the job done. So it’s our job this year just to go with the mentality of just getting the ‘W.’”

Last year, Burke finished with 24 total tackles, 18 solo tackles, three tackles for loss, one interception, nine pass deflections and one forced fumble. Over the course of his career, Burke has 95 total tackles, 70 solo tackles, six tackles for loss, two interceptions, 26 pass deflections, one forced fumble and one defensive touchdown.

As a member of the Class of 2021, Burke was a four-star recruit out of Scottsdale (Ari.) Saguaro, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 3 overall prospect in the state, the No. 6 athlete in the class and the No. 166 overall prospect in the class.

Burke came back to a veteran team for Ohio State in 2024. Similar to rival Michigan doing so in 2023, the Buckeyes are all-in to chase the national title this season.

From Jack Sawyer and TreVeyon Henderson, to J.T. Tuimoloau and Burke, several Buckeyes would have easily been selected in the most recent NFL Draft. But instead decided to run it back in Columbus and purse a national title.

In a recent interview with Joel Klatt, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was asked about re-recruiting his players to return to the program. Revealing that is was something that they actually decided on independently.

“I don’t know if I’d call it recruiting,” Day said. “I think that for all of the guys they wanted to identify what their opportunity was in the NFL, and we helped them identify what their opportunity was there, and we gave them the information. I’ve never been in a situation where we talked somebody into either decision.”