Freshman Cornerback Denzel Burke Becomes First Buckeye to Shed Black Stripe in 2021 Preseason Camp

Burke became the sixth overall member of the class of 2021 to have his stripe removed on Saturday, when he “officially” became a Buckeye following Ohio State's fourth practice of August.

newest member of the #BIA - @King10Burke pic.twitter.com/nbIsgKxhsb

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 8, 2021

Five members of the 2021 class had their black stripes removed during spring practices: Marvin Harrison Jr., Jack Sawyer, TreVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka and Reid Carrico.

Burke, like each of those five Buckeyes, arrived at Ohio State in January as an early enrollee. After playing mostly at wide receiver in high school, Burke is playing cornerback at Ohio State, and he made an early impression on his coaches this spring with how he took to the position.

“It's actually uncanny how natural he does a lot of things at corner for not having played there very much,” secondary coach Matt Barnes said in April. “I don't know if it's 7-on-7 development or he just had a trainer or somebody he worked with, but he does a lot of things naturally very well. It's been fun to watch.”

In just four days of preseason camp, Burke showed enough that Ohio State's coaches decided it was time to remove his black stripe, making him the first of the six defensive backs in Ohio State's recruiting class of 2021 to complete his initiation to the team.