It’s hard to imagine Ethan Burke doing something other than being a football player, but in another life, Burke would be preparing for the 2026 National Lacrosse League draft following a prolific career at the University of Maryland.
But the Austinite had other plans up his sleeve — or maybe cold feet?
Just a little over a year after his Maryland commitment to play lacrosse, and a second flip to Michigan to play both football and lacrosse, Burke had one more change left in him. The hometown kid, just 15 minutes away from the Forty Acres, found his home with the Texas Longhorns.
The caveat? Burke certainly wasn’t going to play for the club lacrosse team offered by UT RecSports. The gamble to go all in on football has certainly paid off for the kid who was raised to be the next lacrosse star his entire life.
Burke played just one full season at Westlake High School, a powerhouse program in Texas. It wasn’t until his senior season that he was a productive member of the defensive line during the school’s back-to-back UIL 6A State Championship run.
“It’s truly awesome, especially (since) he didn’t really start playing football until his senior year of high school,” former Westlake quarterback Cade Klubnik said. “He’s one of the best players in the country at his position … I’m just super proud of him to see how much he’s bloomed at Texas, just really taking on that role.”
After a relatively quiet freshman season with the Longhorns, Burke blew onto the scene his sophomore year with 41 tackles, nine tackles for loss and a career-high 5.5 sacks. Burke closed out his college career with two solid junior and senior seasons, with a couple of iconic moments in the Longhorns’ first two seasons in the Southeastern Conference.
“He’s a baller,” Klubnik said about Burke prior to the Shrine East-West Shrine Bowl. “I don’t really want to go against him, because I know how good (of) a player he is.”
Arguably, one of the most iconic moments of Burke’s career was against one of his former high school teammates, Klubnik. The two faced each other for the first time in the first half of the first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff.
The pair was able to connect once again at the East-West Shrine Bowl for just a couple of days in Frisco, Texas.
Although Burke was able to chase after his former high school quarterback for a couple of days of practice to boost his draft stock, he will have to wait until the pair reaches the league to get another chance at Klubnik, as he opted out of the East-West Shrine Bowl.
“Just knowing that I have those guys to talk to and know that we were successful in high school,” Burke said. “College is tougher, but we all had tough moments. Those guys kept fighting, kept making me want to fight. They drove me, and I drove them to be better players and people.”
Burke’s past doesn’t hint at becoming an NFL player, or even be in the conversation about being a steal in the late round selection of the 2026 NFL Draft. But like the gamble he made in high school, whatever team calls his name in April, they’ll have a player not willing to take the easy route.
“(Texas) developed a lot of great players the last couple years, Ethan being one of those guys,” said Eric Galko, the East-West Shrine Bowl director of football operations and player personnel. “Having guys that are well-rounded for the NFL, that are going to fit the locker room tomorrow, that NFL teams can trust.”
