Ethan Burke's emergence is one of the reasons Texas is a November contender
One of the huge points of concern surrounding the Texas football team in the run-up to this season was the EDGE position opposite Barryn Sorrell. The Longhorns needed a player to step up in that spot and were looking for quarterback pressures and sacks from the opposite side of the defensive line, the latter which were too few and far between last year.
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Into that breach stepped Ethan Burke, who’s provided Texas the spark and energy it craved. Burke is playing like his pants are on fire – in a good way – and his effort and production in the No. 7 Longhorns’ 33-30 overtime win over Kansas State on Saturday were one of the keys to the victory.
The play of Burke, a sophomore from Austin (Texas) Westlake, has been an emerging piece of supporting evidence to Texas’ claim of having one of the top defensive lines in college football.
“We talk about staying in our rush lanes and where we’re going to try and send a quarterback based off the matchup,” Burke said about the defensive line’s strategy. “The defensive tackles are obviously some big-ass dudes so they get that push and it helps make a quarterback step back. We just try to play off each other – knowing who you’re rushing with and how they are rushing helps.”
Burke has amassed 25 tackles, 13 of them solo stops, and 6.5 of them resulting in a loss of yardage for the opponent over his eight games this season. Among those TFLs are five sacks and a forced fumble; two of the sacks and the strip-sack came in the game against Kansas State.
Burke’s big game against the Wildcats came after he missed the previous week’s contest against BYU due to a knee injury.
“I was pretty locked in on my injury week, just rehabbing and getting stronger,” Burke said. “I think I did a pretty good job of strengthening my knee and getting back to where I needed to get it. On Saturday, that was the result. I felt pretty good.”
Burke’s work and the results resonated with the college football world as he was lauded by ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit on Twitter as one of the football analyst’s top performing players of the week.
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Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is also a big fan of Burke’s work ethic and moxie.
“I love Ethan because he’s a blue-collar guy, man,” Sarkisian said postgame Saturday. “How he makes his plays, what he does is through effort, through toughness. He’s got a high football IQ.”
Despite being 6-foot-6 and weighing 257 pounds, Burke was also an all-state lacrosse player while at Westlake and had Division I scholarship offers to play that sport instead of football. The hand-eye coordination required for lacrosse, as well straight-line speed, translate well to football.
“I don’t understand how Ethan played lacrosse. It doesn’t make sense to me,” Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron said. “That shows me the athleticism that he has. His work ethic to come back so fast and to dominate and to have a strip sack like that was most needed.”
Burke has helped the Texas defense claim the No. 9 spot in rushing defense, the No. 28 spot in yards per play allowed, and the No. 23 position in total sacks. While his work these days is on the gridiron and not with a lacrosse pole, it’s been effective all the same.
“I think he brings a lot to our defense from that side, but he also brings a toughness mentality that way,” Sarkisian said.
