Next up in our backlog of Hello posts is an extremely intriguing prospect in Ethan Burke, a 3* EDGE who pledged his commitment following The Game, and not terribly long after Michigan began recruiting him. Burke is from Westlake, Texas, and is a late riser in this class, so we've got an interesting name on our hands here to investigate. Burke has played lacrosse in high school and was committed to Maryland for it before his football career took off, so the scouting on him as a football player is rather scant, but we will do our best 

GURU RATINGS 

Bottom row is Seth's conversion to the five star scale. Links are to profile pages

As you often see with late risers, this page is all over the place right now. You have On3, who sees Burke as a 4*, very attractive prospect, while Rivals has the same level of general knowledge about Burke as Craig Ross does about hip hop. Those who have seen Burke play are pretty high on what they've seen, but not all that many in the scouting community have seen him play. Michigan has done pretty well in pulling Who Dat recruits out of the bag and then turning them into Guys (see: Ronnie Bell, Hassan Haskins, Luke Schoonmaker). They hope that Burke could be the next in line for that designation. 

One note about the guru ratings that came up in a question on yesterday's Zeke Berry hello post, but we are still sticking with the 247 composite over the On3 composite for the moment until we get more of a sense of how the On3 composite operates. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Lacrosse player turned defensive end???]

SCOUTING

There's not a huge amount of scouting out there on Burke, and that's partially the nature of his recruitment. He was not on anyone's radar entering this season after suffering an injury as a junior, and then began picking up a few fringe P5 offers as his senior season was underway and he began putting up big time numbers. It wasn't until Michigan swooped in that we began to get more information about him. For example, he does not appear in a single 247 article until the beginning of November 2021, less than a month before he was committed to Michigan. 

The little scouting that is out there is interesting. We have a snippet from a game report in early November over at On3, which mostly centers on DID YOU NOTICE THIS GUY IS REALLY TALL?: 

Westlake EDGE Ethan Burke had a big game against rival Lake Travis. The 6-foot-7, 230-pounder sticks out with his considerable stature. Burke made a number of disruptive plays, sacking Bo Edmundson and batting several passes

Once he committed to Michigan, Brandon Justice of Maize and Blue Review gave one of the few evals of Burke's tape that we have out there, shedding some light on the athletic side of Burke ($): 

His first step is deadly thanks to the length his 6-foot-7 frame lends him. But on film, it isn't taking away from his explosiveness. Those mile-long legs absolutely give him an advantage, but don't let them overshadow the athleticism he uses to get by linemen ... He can contain or spy a speedy quarterback. He can get to the boundaries and help out in the run game. He can use those long arms to disrupt the pass if he doesn't get home in time

Burke's film, which I embedded later on in this piece, does show a lot of that. He burns around the offensive linemen and then uses his long arms to wrap up the QB from distance, if he can't just bulldoze him first. He's comfortable shedding blocks to track down ballcarriers and the combination of the length and athleticism stands out. 

Touch the Banner wrote about Burke after he committed, highlighting both the usual positives, and then the areas where Burke will need to improve: 

Burke is a long, lanky player at this point and looks much like a college power forward. His length is mighty impressive, and he uses that wingspan to drag down ball carriers like cartoons use canes to yank people off stage ... Otherwise, Burke is a huge project from a technique standpoint. His stance is a little inconsistent and off-kilter, and he looks a little tentative when coming off the ball. This may be due to spending a lot of time playing lacrosse and not zeroing in on football like a lot of other kids do. He tries a spin move in his highlights, and I’ll give him an A for effort, but it’s telegraphed and slow. In general, he does not use his hands particularly well and needs to get a lot stronger

He also points out that Burke fits into a line of Michigan taking two-sport athletes, including RJ Moten (baseball), Ronnie Bell (basketball), and Julius Welschof (skiing), something that Burke fits into with lacrosse. The concluding section of TTB's piece is perhaps most interesting, because when he likes a low-rated guy this much, it's news: 

I definitely like Burke as an athlete, and I believe he will be successful as long as he buys into The Process. It will take a couple years to bulk him up and teach him the technique necessary, but he’s a 6’7″ edge guy who can run. I think you take those guys whenever you can

In case you're wondering what the program thinks about Burke, the fact they moved pretty quickly to snap him up is notable. It was barely days before Burke had committed that recruiting insiders were wondering whether Michigan even rated Burke as a "take" or not. Tim Verghese of On3 has lots of juicy details about how the recruitment went down behind the paywall, but I'll share this nugget ($): 

During his visit, Burke had a thirty minute film session with Osborn, who broke down his game and compared his film with Hutchinson’s. The knowledge Osborn and the rest of the defensive staff had of the edge position ultimately was one of the deciding factors in him shutting things down. He’s already looking forward to applying what he learned over the weekend in his playoff game this coming weekend.

Burke was super impressed with Michigan’s ability to develop. All weekend, the developmental aspect of the program was stressed. Burke spent a lot of time with the strength staff, analyzing pictures of what current players looked like when they enrolled and how different they looked just months later. 

Michigan using film sessions to woo recruits is not surprising; it's the central tenet of their recruiting strategy. What is interesting is that Burke was so swayed by the developmental aspect of Michigan's pitch, suggesting he's bought in for the long haul, and also the direct comparison the staff made to Hutchinson. "We think you're a lot like our All-American superstar" is not a surprising recruiting pitch either, but from a physical standpoint, there are some comparisons here, with Burke being 6'7" next to Hutchinson's monstrous 6'6" frame, and both are very long, with huge wingspans. 

OFFERS

Burke held offers from KSU, Air Force, Army, Baylor, Nebraska, Utah, and Texas Tech, in addition to Michigan. He only ever visited Kansas St. and Michigan, though he had a visit set up to Texas (but no offer yet) when Michigan sealed the deal during the weekend of The Game. Pretty sparse interest overall, which is due to the two-sport athlete, major injury junior year, and late bloomer status. 

HIGH SCHOOL

Westlake High School is in western Travis County, TX, adjacent to Austin, and has long been considered one of the top academic high schools in America. In addition to that, it's found football success in recent years, winning the 2019 and 2020 Texas state championship and the Chaparrals (which I learned today is another name for a roadrunner) are currently 14-0 in the 2021 season. They compete in Division 6A and are a high-end program. The team's starter is Cade Klubnik, who is a 5* prospect currently committed to Clemson, while leading WR Jaden Greathouse is a borderline top 100 prospect in the '23 class currently uncommitted. There's talent here. 

STATS

Burke is his team's leader in TFL and sacks this season, with 12.0 and 10 in fourteen games, respectively. He also has 50 tackles on the year in those fourteen contests, which ranks seventh on the team. 

FAKE 40 TIME

Error 404: page not found. No 40 times listed anywhere so it gets 0 FAKEs. We have no athletic measurements on Burke. 

VIDEO 

Here are his highlights from the first eleven weeks of the season, where you see (surprise) his length and height and general disruptiveness on full display: 

If you're interested in seeing Burke, the lacrosse player, I've got good news for you: 

ETC

Burke is a very good lacrosse player, which you can tell from the fact he was committed to Maryland for lacrosse before his football career took off. Michigan has recruited Burke to be a two sport athlete, being the only school besides Army to request that he play lacrosse and football ($). Burke's lacrosse and football teammate Carter Barksdale is currently committed to Michigan's lax program, and may walk-on for football. 

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE 

It feels like there's a pretty wide range of outcomes with Burke. He's a stab in the dark but not in the Joel Honigford "he played in Amish country against bottom-end competition" way. Burke has played with and against some elite players coming from high-level Texas HS football, but he has only played like a high-major player recently. Part of that he had no control over (injury), but Michigan is buying that the player that has emerged in his senior season is the player they are getting. 

The tools are definitely there. We don't have the sorts of athletic measurements we typically like to use because Burke hasn't been through any of the camps, but from watching the tape, you can definitely tell Burke is athletic, even at his size. He's going to need to bulk up and is the definition of a developmental prospect. Aidan Hutchinson is 6'6/265. If Burke is really 6'7, he should add a full 40 pounds if he wants to get to that Hutchinson-like playing body. But the length, the height, and the athleticism are there and he's done enough in HS this year to flash the potential. Sit him on the bench for a couple seasons, bulk him up, and see what you have when you take him out of the oven. I don't hate Michigan's chances considering how past developmental edge prospects under Harbaugh have ended up (Ojabo, Paye, Taco notably). 

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS 

Edge is not one of the strongest positions in the class, so adding Burke was big, as he replaced the departed (processed?) Mario Eugenio. Micah Pollard is in the class as a 3.5* and then you still have Kevonte Henry, but reports are that it may be a bit of a battle to keep Henry in the class due to Courtney Morgan's pivotal role in his recruitment. As of now, they're set at the edge position, but we'll see if that changes depending on what happens with Henry.