Irish Eyes: Burnham commits to Notre Dame on St. Patrick's Day

James Cook, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·5 min read

Mar. 18—TRAVERSE CITY — Big, billowy snowflakes fell on the Thirlby Field turf Wednesday prior to Joshua Burnham announcing his commitment to play football for the University of Notre Dame.

Many other months of the year, Burnham makes opposing players abruptly fall not-so-lightly on the same ground.

The Traverse City Central junior star linebacker made his decision Wednesday on a CBS Sports Network live stream from Thirlby, affirming his intentions to play for the Fighting Irish.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, the event came on St. Patrick's Day, which also happens to be Burnham's birthday. The crowd of well over 100 sang "Happy Birthday" just before he went on air with CBS Sports Network.

"He was born on St. Patrick's Day," said his mother, Katie. "Maybe it was written in the stars. Who knew I'd have a 6-foot-4 leprechaun?"

Rivals ranks the 6-foot-4, 218-pound linebacker as the No. 3 recruit in Michigan's class of 2022, and the nation's No. 5 inside linebacker.

"It's always been a dream of mine to play college football," Josh Burnham said. "And to be able to do it on my birthday, everything lined up perfectly. They treat everyone like family (at Notre Dame). My biggest thing would be the culture. They've done very well the last few years. I'm excited to take my talents there."

Burnham becomes the 11th commitment in Notre Dame's 2022 class. The 10-man class currently ranks No. 3 in the country on 247Sports and No. 5 on Rivals before the addition of Burnham, the second linebacker in the class after four-star Nolan Ziegler of Grand Rapids Catholic Central. Both Ziegler and Burnham were born on St. Patrick's Day 17 years ago.

"The whole process, to go through that has been bucket list stuff," said Sean Burnham. "Seeing all those stadiums and going to games."

The family toured Wisconsin's campus about two weeks ago. His parents — Sean and Katie, both Michigan fans — thought their son would end up Madison's Camp Randall Stadium until an in-person visit to South Bend changed all that.

"I know this all happened because of football," Katie Burnham said, "but we took football out of the picture and looked at where he's going to be the most comfortable the next four years. It had to be the right fit for him."

Burnham said he originally intended to announce his commitment after the Trojans' 2020-21 season concluded in January, but then wanted to be able able to see each campus in person once some restrictions were lifted.

"With Wisconsin, it's a great linebacker school — guys like T.J. Watt and J.J. Watt," Burnham said. "They always compared me to those guys at Wisconsin, and that's great to hear as a 16-year-old."

Even after whittling down his top three choices to Notre Dame, Michigan and Wisconsin, Michigan State continued to show strong interest in case Burnham flipped. Sean Burnham said he doubts that happens.

"You shake a hand, it's going to be stuck," he said. "It's all good."

Burnham's interest in Michigan waned when multiple coaches who recruited him departed the program.

The two-time Division 1-2 all-state linebacker and 2020-21 Record-Eagle Football Player of the Year received 16 Division 1 scholarship offers, including Alabama, Iowa, Ohio State and many more. The first school to offer the 2020-21 state Dream Team member was Western Michigan, where teammate and 2021 offensive tackle Carson Briggs is headed.

"I'm super happy for him, super proud of him," Briggs said. "It's well-deserved. He's one of the hardest workers I know. He does everything right — eats right, sleeps right, works out right. I'm so happy for him."

Notre Dame signed two linebackers in its 2021 class ahead of Burnham and Ziegler — Prince Kollie from Tennessee, who won the high school Butkus Award, and Kahanu Kia from Hawaii.

The family visited South Bend earlier this month when a canceled basketball game opened up a spot in their schedule. They couldn't go into the football complex or see the famous "Play like a champion today" sign on the way to the field. Instead, they toured the campus and saw buildings from the outside.

"It's definitely been interesting and fun, that's for sure," Katie Burnham said. "It's been fun along the way. We've seen some amazing schools and met amazing coaches."

Josh Burnham frequently meet via Zoom with college coaches each evening he wasn't playing football or basketball.

"We've seen him more today than in the last two weeks," Katie Burnham joked as he helped his parents set up tables and a laptop for the announcement just past Thirlby's east end zone.

Burnham keeps up Traverse City's recent success with Division 1 and Big Ten football recruits, including former Central quarterback Peyton Smith joining Michigan this past fall as a preferred walk-on and TC West safety Christian Boivin joining Smith set to join the Wolverines next season.

TC West produced a long line of Division 1 linemen, including Ryan Hayes (Michigan), Jake Cerny (Illinois), Thiyo Lukusa (Michigan State/Arizona), Jake Fisher (Oregon/Cincinnati Bengals), Rocko Khoury (Michigan). A string of TC St. Francis alumni played at Michigan State — Ryan Armour, Matt Seybert, Byron Bullough, Riley Bullough and Max Bullough. Former West kicker Kevin Cronin played at MSU, TCSF's Joe Kerridge played for Michigan and eventually the Green Bay Packers, and Frankfort lineman Matthew Stefanski is currently at Arizona.

TCSF's Casey Donahue committed last week to long snap for Duke, and Gladiators alum Chris Kolarevic recently transferred to Nebraska. Elk Rapids alum Adam Trautman (Dayton) was drafted in the third round of the NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints last spring.

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