Advertisement
football Edit

Four-star linebacker Joshua Burnham recaps first Notre Dame game experience

Traverse City (Mich.) Central class of 2022 linebacker Joshua Burnham and Fighting Irish commit had his first experience for a Notre Dame game day on Sept. 11.

Notre Dame narrowly escaped an upset against Toledo 32-29. The outcome was much closer than expected, but that certainly didn’t mean that Burnham and other Irish recruits didn’t enjoy themselves.

“It was awesome,” Burnham said of the visit. “As soon as we showed up and seeing the amount of people on campus, I knew it’d be a really fun day. It was fun game but a scary one to watch.”

Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

Advertisement

Before Burnham pledged to the Irish on March 17, he took a self-guided tour of campus. The dead period was still in place, which meant he couldn’t see the staff. Burnham visited a couple times in June too, when he was able to see the staff as the dead period lifted.

Those visits didn’t compare to the atmosphere that Notre Dame had for a game day with fans back on campus and inside the stadium.

“It was a lot different,” he said. “It was awesome to take it all in.

The four-star linebacker was able to catch up with his future position coach and coordinator too.

“We talked to the coaches for a little bit before the game,” Burnham added. “I talked to Coach [Marcus] Freeman, and that was his first Notre Dame Stadium experience too. He was really excited.”

Burnham, Rivals’ No. 5 inside linebacker and No. 155 overall player nationally, has enjoyed the past half-dozen months of being committed to Notre Dame.

“It’s been huge, especially not having a ton of coaches reaching out,” Burnham said. “I get to focus on the Notre Dame staff and building stronger connections than I even had before. It’s been really nice.”

His connection with Freeman, defensive analyst Nick Lezynski and the entire staff has indeed grown very strong.

“We always FaceTime after our football games and talk about what’s going on – catching up with one another,” noted Burnham. “It’s awesome that they take the time to reach out to me.”

Other college programs have still contacted him since he made his commitment to Notre Dame. How has Burnham handled that?

“I’ve told schools that I’m 100 percent locked in and that there’s no way that I’m getting out of the commitment,” Burnham answered. “Notre Dame is where I want to be.”

Of Notre Dame’s 21 commitments in the 2022 class, two have not used their official visit yet — Burnham and Grand Rapids (Mich.) Catholic Central’s Nolan Ziegler. The talented linebacker prospects both plan to enroll early at Notre Dame and both will take their official visit when the Irish host USC.

“It’s going to be sweet hanging with Nolan, and there will be a bunch of others guys visiting for that game too,” Burnham said. “Building connections before we even enroll is huge.”

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON THE LOU SOMOGYI BOARD!

----

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter.

Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @tbhorka and @ToddBurlage.

• Like us on Facebook.

Advertisement