Texas Football: 3 significant position changes late in spring camp

Ethan Burke, EDGE

It seems like I’m writing some article that involves sophomore edge rusher Ethan Burke every single day in the last couple of weeks of spring camp. Burke has really stood out as one of the big risers at edge rusher this spring.

Last week, Burke supplanted fellow sophomore edge rusher Justice Finkley, getting the first-team reps at the buck position. Finkley started out spring practice with the starting buck spot to lose.

But Burke’s strong play and improvement as a pass rusher and a run stopper off the edge led to his jump up the edge rusher depth chart at the buck spot. And we’ve heard almost all positive feedback regarding Burke’s performances in practice at the buck position in the last week or so.

One of the most positive developments in Burke’s game during the closed scrimmage late this week was his strong play as a run defender. It sounds like Burke held his own setting the edge in run defense in the scrimmage against the first and second-team offensive lines on April 7.

That’s no easy feat considering some of those reps came against some very adept run blockers at offensive tackle in Banks and Jones.

Burke has impressed during his limited time at the buck spot this spring. Yet, it wasn’t all that long ago that Burke wasn’t even getting reps at the buck position for the Longhorns’ defensive front.

Last year, Burke was one of the backups at the jack position, opposite of guys like Finkley and senior edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo at the buck position. Burke was figured to be competing for the backup job at jack behind junior Barryn Sorrell this spring.

Burke has proven to be too valuable in terms of his pass-rushing impact to keep him off the field this spring. Now, we need to see Burke make some strides to utilize his length more effectively off the edge and set the edge on a more consistent basis in run defense.