Ethan Burke, Anthony Hill elevate the potential of the Texas defensive line
Heading into the 2023 season, one of the main battles that was to be determined during training camp was the Buck position, the EDGE on the weakside of the formation when Texas is in its typical 2-4-5 defensive set.
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Buck was seen as one of the few unknowns on the defense. Barryn Sorrell‘s development in the 2022 campaign made his play on the opposite side of the defensive line at Jack a known quantity. Plus, the frequent dominance of interior linemen like Byron Murphy, T’Vondre Sweat, Alfred Collins, and even Vernon Broughton made tackle a group that didn’t keep Steve Sarkisian up at night.
That last Buck spot was a different story, at least until Saturday.
Sophomore Ethan Burke‘s conventional down play in Tuscaloosa gave the Longhorns a potent frontline foursome along with Murphy, Sweat, and Sorrell. Burke tallied four tackles, including two for loss and one sack, as part of a day that saw the D-Line quartet record seven total tackles, two sacks, and three tackles for loss.
In addition, true freshman Anthony Hill saw 12 of his 25 total snaps start from an alignment on the edge, often in situational work at that Buck position. Hill, On3’s true freshman of the week, tallied six tackles with two sacks, making an impact on the biggest stage in just his second collegiate game.
Both Burke and Hill made pivotal plays throughout the course of the contest to turn what was a preseason concern into a position that has versatile and effective options two games in.
“Saturday night, naturally, I thought we were very disruptive up front on the defensive side of the ball, which paid dividends,” Sarkisian said Monday. “I know early on we didn’t play the run great and then we settled in there, but our ability to create chaos in the backfield was huge. Ethan Burke had a tremendous game. Byron Murphy had a great game. A week ago, we were talking about T’Vondre Sweat, and obviously we know what Anthony Hill did. A lot of cool plays.””
To Sarkisian’s point, Texas allowed 65 rushing yards in the first quarter on 10 rushes. In the final 45 minutes, the Longhorns would allow only 42 more yards on 25 attempts. Many of the rushing yards for the Tide were via scrambles or designed runs from Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe. The conventional running game was a non-starter for Tommy Rees‘ offense after the first 15 minutes.
“The front continues to grow in a way where they were really active,” Sarkisian said.
Much of the success had to do with Texas’ ability to hold the line on run plays and maintain rush lanes on passing plays. It wasn’t perfect, but Texas’ front four was able to shrink the pocket on Milroe in a way that indicates they’ll be able to replicate the performance against lesser O-lines and other signal-callers.
“On the dropback stuff, I think our rush lanes were good,” Sarkisian said. “I think we’ve got to continue to work on that because we’re going to face some pretty athletic quarterbacks here down the road.”
Burke, a sophomore from Austin (Texas) Westlake who the Longhorns flipped from Michigan in the 2022 recruiting cycle, sacked Milroe during the fourth quarter of Texas’ 34-24 win. While the Tide would score a few plays later after a 3rd-and-17 conversion, the play Burke made versus a five-star offensive tackle hinted at what could be for the Horns this year and further down the line.
“It all came together going into that second half,” Burke said. “We had been getting pressure on the quarterback. The defensive line is dirty and gritty, and we just got after them.”
Burke had been seen as a player who was more capable in pass-rush than in run defense. However, at a listed 6-foot-6, 251 pounds, he uses his size at the position to impact in multiple ways.
“My length helps me in the pass rush and in the run game as well,” Burke said.
His development as an all-around, every-down player indicates Texas has not just an interior duo who can make life difficult for opposing O-lines, but also an EDGE duo that can do the same no matter the down and distance.
And on passing downs? That’s where Hill comes in.
According to Pro Football Focus, Hill had 10 pass-rush snaps versus Alabama and recorded two sacks and a hurry in those reps. He recorded one of the final nails in the coffin for the Crimson Tide, a third-down takedown of Milroe behind the line of scrimmage that forced Alabama to punt the ball away in the fourth quarter.
They would not get it back.
“He’s being versatile,” Sarkisian said. “He’s got a really versatile skill set in his ability to play off-the-ball linebacker, his ability to play true EDGE and come off the edge, and his ability to blitz the quarterback from an off-the-ball position.”
EDGE has been a position of intrigue for the Longhorns during the Sarkisian era. With the development of Burke and the addition of Hill, it could be an area that now works in the Longhorns’ favor on a down-to-down basis.
