March will be a busy month of the recruiting front for Myles Burkett, a dual-threat quarterback from Franklin High School in Wisconsin.
At least three stops are on the calendar for the 6-foot-2, 185-pound sophomore, who threw for 1,820 yards and 24 touchdowns last fall.
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"I have Iowa on Sunday and I'm really looking forward to that visit," Burkett told BadgerBlitz.com. "There's also Iowa State on March 7 and Wisconsin on March 12. I'm also looking to get a visit in to Northern Illinois in March or April, and there could be more."
Still early in the process, Burkett said the Hawkeyes, led by assistant coach Tim Polasek, have shown the most interest at this point.
"Right now Iowa is for sure keeping up the most communication with me," Burkett told BadgerBlitz.com. "I have weekly communication with Coach Polasek, and Coach (Brian) Ferentz came to our school during the contact period. I also took a visit to North Dakota and it was good. It was my first ever visit, so I got to learn about the recruiting experience at a lower level. That was very helpful because recruiting has gotten pretty crazy lately.
"Otherwise, Wisconsin and Iowa State are the other two schools that want me out for visits and want to talk to me. I know Iowa State is coming in the spring to see me throw. More recently, Northwestern is showing interest. They want to see me in the spring and have talked to my coach, but no direct contact with other schools besides Iowa at this point."
The reigning Offensive Player of the Year in the Southeast Conference, Burkett, who went down with a leg injury during a playoff loss to Muskego, isn't too surprised by the early recruiting attention.
"I took the option to not camp going into my sophomore year in order to win the starting job at my school, so I had no real contact with any schools," Burkett, who also rushed for 540 yards and nine touchdowns in 2019, said. "Hearing from all these schools that are interested was surprising at first, but knowing how hard I worked in the off-season and during the season, it was nice to see it had payed off.
"I'm feeling really good and I have been doing physical therapy every day since the injury. I'm past 12 weeks post-op now and looking to be cleared in the coming weeks. I have my range of motion back and starting to jog, run and throw."
In the 2022 class, the Badgers have known offers out to quarterbacks Brady Allen (Fort Branch, IN) and Devin Brown (Gilbert, AZ). Burkett's dual-threat ability makes him an intriguing option in comparison to those two prospects.
"Wisconsin is a fairly new school to show interest," Burkett, who is expected to visit UW with teammate Chad Schuster, said. "During the visit, I just hope to see if I can see myself there and if it’s a real fit. Obviously growing up in Wisconsin I’ve always had knowledge of the Badgers. But now I just want to see if I fit in their system and if my connection with the coaches is good. Being from Wisconsin, I was always a Badger fan and went to games, but I was just a fan of college football. I was a fan of many teams from coast to coast - I’ve always wanted to go to many schools around the country.
"I'm hoping to hear from as many schools as possible. I feel having many options in the future so that I can find the perfect fit is what I want. But as a dual-threat, there’s some schools where I could fit into their system very quickly. At this point it’s all kind of the beginning for me and I’m still waiting for that one team to take a chance on me."
