As Iowa offers pair of 2024 tight end recruits, some Big Ten peers quickly follow

Jun. 10, 2023 6:00 am IOWA CITY — Michael Burt’s last week has been “overwhelming in the best way possible.” At this time last week, Burt did not have any Power Five offers. Now, he has scholarship offers from most of the Big Ten West. “I’m really thankful to be in this situation,” said Burt, a tight end at Creighton Prep in Omaha (Neb.) in the class of 2024. It started on Sunday with Iowa — the self-proclaimed “Tight End U” because of its reputation for identifying and developing tight end talent — offering him a scholarship. Burt did not initially share it on social media. “I intentionally did not post that that night because I didn’t want my phone buzzing while I was trying to sleep,” Burt said in a phone call this week with The Gazette. Still, “the word kind of got out” about the Iowa offer. He was at Minnesota the next day for an unofficial visit. “Minnesota asked me if I got offered, and I said yes,” Burt said. “They offered like right when I got there.” Later that day, Burt still had not publicized the Iowa and Minnesota offers. However, Nebraska caught wind of what was happening and offered him while he was in the car after the Minnesota visit. Illinois joined the mix, too, after he announced the Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska offers on social media. “So that was a busy night,” Burt said. Burt had just competed in two prospect camps — Lindenwood in suburban St. Louis on Friday and Iowa’s camp on Sunday — which were his first two camps. The Lindenwood camp had coaches from Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota, among other schools, in attendance. Burt is not the only tight end prospect to see other Big Ten schools jump in during the same week as Iowa. Gavin Hoffman, a 2024 tight end from Overland Park, Kan., experienced a similar influx of Big Ten interest this week. Hoffman announced a scholarship offer from Iowa on Monday. In the next 16 hours, he also reported offers from fellow Big Ten West schools Nebraska, Purdue and Illinois. “These schools see #TightEndU make offers, and they come out of the woodwork in a hurry!” Iowa football recruiting director Tyler Barnes said in a tweet six minutes after Hoffman announced the Nebraska offer. While Iowa was the leader and others were the followers this time, that is not always the case. Take incoming Iowa freshman tight end Zach Ortwerth as an example. He reported offers from Nebraska and Indiana in January 2022 before Iowa joined them later in the week. The timing of offers aside, the Hawkeyes still are searching for their first tight end commit of the 2024 class. They've averaged 1.6 scholarship tight ends per high school class from 2019-23. Burt is on his official visit to Iowa this weekend. On3 and 247Sports have reported Hoffman is expected to take his official visit on the last weekend of June. Burt wants to go somewhere “fairly close” to Omaha. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be extremely close, but somewhere where my family can catch the games,” Burt said. “Location is something that’s important to me, but it’s not of the most importance.” Whether a school has a “good business program” is another factor, as is “the ability to trust that the coaches will stay” where he goes. “I’d really like having the opportunity to develop relationships with position coaches and head coaches,” Burt said. Iowa’s reputation for tight end development — fellow Omaha native and current NFL player Noah Fant is one of many examples — is not lost on Burt either. “Iowa has an edge in terms of the development of players specifically at my position, so that’s certainly something I’m thinking about,” Burt said. “(Fant) grew up a Husker fan. I grew up a Husker fan. … What Iowa was able to turn him into is something that not a lot of other schools can do.”