The highlight of this year’s Texas football team, without a doubt, is its defense.
With just an average of 211 yards per game allowed this season, Texas’ defense is currently ranked as the fifth in the nation. The guys on the field are especially stifling when it comes to the ground game, with just under 60 run yards allowed per game over the last four weeks.
With several returning veterans, experience is the crucial factor that makes a good, talented defense into something more. It makes it great.
Of those returners, one of the most notable is senior edge Ethan Burke.
Ethan, who started his football career just 15 minutes from the Forty Acres at Westlake High School, was never supposed to stay on the turf for long.
Since he was a young kid, Ethan trained to be a lacrosse player with his father, who spent four years playing the sport professionally. Zack Burke, Ethan’s father, moved his family from San Diego to Austin to become the Westlake lacrosse head coach, and then-high-school-freshman Ethan continued to play under Zack while quietly building a reputation as a naturally talented football player.
“For as tall as he is, Ethan knew how to play with leverage. So, he was almost immediately blocking punts and field goals and causing havoc,” Westlake defensive line coach Brian Vasek said to Horns247 in 2023.
Still, lacrosse was Ethan’s first priority.
His training came to fruition, as he developed a five-star recruiting profile with lacrosse and committed to Maryland to play. But there was always something about football that drew him in, kept him close and made his heart beat faster.
“I don’t know, there was just something about football and messing kids up,” Ethan said to Horns247.
Ethan flipped his lacrosse commitment at Maryland to a spot on Michigan’s football roster. About two weeks later, a phone call from quarterbacks coach AJ Milwee led him straight to Texas.
Ethan’s love for football has been on full throttle since he chose to pursue it and arrived on Texas’ campus, and it hasn’t slowed down since. Throughout his three full seasons with Texas, Ethan has put up incredible numbers, including 74 total tackles — 43 solo and 19.5 for loss — and 7.5 sacks.
The impact those numbers make on the field is only amplified by Ethan’s presence off of it.
“He’s a blue-collar guy,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said to Horns247. “I think he has great length, but at the end of the day, the guy’s a mechanic. He goes to work, he rolls his sleeves up, he doesn’t mind getting grimy. He’s always going to find an edge somewhere, and he’s got good wits about him — he knows how to play the game.”
With veteranship naturally comes a love of discipline, but with Ethan’s background as a dual-sport athlete, discipline is just a part of his nature. His work ethic is matter-of-fact, and he motivates his teammates with a quiet intensity. When in-game rookie mistakes arise, Ethan doesn’t shy away from the fact that elbow grease is needed for this defense to shine.
“We’ve got to clean (penalties) up,” Ethan said after the Longhorns racked up 12 penalties for 115 yards two weeks ago against San José State. “That starts with discipline, enforcing it in practice and not letting people get away with whatever’s going on.”
With Southeastern Conference play beginning next Saturday, the Longhorns’ defense has its work cut out. Offensive teams win games, but defensive teams win championships, so Texas’ defense needs to be top-notch throughout conference play if it has any hopes of going to the SEC Championship.
And Ethan Burke will be leading the charge.
