Tuesday Recruiting Roundup: New DL target sets official visit for The Game

Michigan is gearing up for its biggest game and recruiting event of the season. By the time the full visitors list is set, I expect it to be longer than the Washington game. A lot is riding on the result of this game, so everyone is hoping for a good showing Saturday at noon.

Michigan getting official visit from three-star DE

Once Joshua Josephs started trending away from Michigan, the staff extended an offer to 2022 Texas three-star pass rusher Ethan Burke. Burke has not wasted time setting up an official visit to Michigan this weekend for The Game, as reported by The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich ($).

“Michigan has a great education and is one of the best universities to be at in the country,” said Burke. “I’m really looking forward to visiting and getting to know the coaching staff.”

Burke is currently committed to Maryland to play lacrosse, so leaving Texas shouldn’t be an issue for him. Playing for power Austin Westlake, Burke has put up 40 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, seven sacks and six batted passes.

Somehow, he’s flown under the radar despite being 6-foot-7 and playing for one of the best teams in the country. But in the past month he’s started to get more attention, picking up offers from Utah, Baylor, Texas Tech and Kansas State. The latter is the only other school that has gotten an official visit from Burke so far.

Northeast TE to visit for The Game

The visitors list for the Ohio State game this year will be lengthy like usual. One of the latest additions is 2023 three-star tight end Andrew Rappleyea. Rappleyea attends Milton Academy in Massachusetts, which is where current Wolverine linebacker Kalel Mullings went as well.

Rappleyea spoke with 247Sports’ Brian Dohn about what he’s looking for in his recruitment ($), and he was up front about his communication with Michigan, calling it “off and on.”

“It was kind of a different situation with (Michigan), but now they are back with interest in me,” Rappleyea said. “I have always been very interested in them, especially coming from a family that wants me to wind up at a very good academic school with a great football team.”

From the interview, it seems Rappleyea will take a very analytical approach to his recruitment. He transferred from his hometown school in Poughkeepsie, New York in order to play more in-line as a tight end and is looking closely at how often schools that offer him utilize their tight ends.

Penn State, North Carolina, Rutgers and Boston College were also mentioned as schools being considered by Rappleyea.

Michigan commit goes off in big-time high school matchup

2022 three-star defensive line commit Mason Graham has had an excellent senior campaign playing in the tough Trinity League in California. Last Saturday, his Servite team avenged an earlier loss to St. John Bosco, beating them 40-21 in the playoff semifinals.

Graham had such a good game he earned a separate article from 247Sports West Coast analyst Greg Biggins’ about his performance ($).

On defense, Graham had four tackles for loss and a strip sack that led to a Servite touchdown. He also played every snap at left tackle on the offensive line.

These added to his impressive season totals of 60 tackles, 22 tackles for loss and 14 sacks. While 247Sports is already high on Graham, putting him at 213th overall in the country, it sounds like he could still rise in the rankings before the cycle is over.