Reviewing the Redshirts is an off-season project meant to resurrect discussion about the 2022 Notre Dame freshmen who retained a year of eligibility and discuss their possible impact in 2023 and beyond. The Fighting Irish were able to redshirt 17 players this past season while 1 player medically retired (Joey Tanona) and another player has transferred already to Syracuse (Jayden Bellamy).

Today we’ll take a look at a rangy linebacker who made a quick switch to a pass rusher in 2022.

DE Josh Burnham

Hometown: Traverse City, Michigan
Height: 6-3 1/2
Weight: 233

247Sports Composite Ranking: 4-star, No. 9 LB, No. 2 MI, No. 109 National, 0.9550 score

18 Stripes Grade: 93.0

Murtaugh’s Blurb from the Class Grade:

Long legs make him look all of 6’3” with a rangy body. A very good overall athlete with good sideline to sideline speed. A perfect fit at Mike linebacker for the Irish. Burnham has good instincts from the middle of the field and flashes tremendous blitzing ability. There are some Luke Kuechely vibes about him. He looks nimble enough to make plays in coverage. I don’t think he’s an elite athlete overall but for a middle linebacker he should have a fruitful career for Notre Dame.

Perfect middle linebacker, perhaps not then!

The big question with Burnham is why was he moved, and why so quickly as a freshman? I suspect we will find out sooner rather than later. As a highly touted prospect you’d think it was because Burnham showed something athletically as a pass rusher that immediately jumped out to the coaching staff. It’s possible that Burnham wasn’t a fit at linebacker, or was showing signs of quickly growing out of that position, and that was the impetus for moving him quickly to defensive line.

Need at Position: High

The post-Isaiah Foskey was always going to be a bit scary for Notre Dame. Depending on your thoughts about the development of Jordan Botelho and his future as a nailed-down starter while technically being listed as a linebacker on the 2022 roster, there’s a massive need for both impact players and depth at Vyper.

Expected Spot on the 2023 Depth Chart: 3rd String

This will be a talking point with many of the young defenders on the defensive side: Can they add more size? Burnham was already pushing it for his weight at linebacker when he arrived and he’s on a good path to be at a sufficient playing weight at Vyper. For reference, Foskey and Justin Ademilola weighed 265 pounds and 253 pounds respectively while grabbing most of the snaps at this position last year.

Burnham has some good height and length, too. His frame shouldn’t cause any worried about an inability to add more weight. Truthfully, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s up to 250 pounds for spring on the upcoming updated roster.

Another talking point for spring will be some of these redshirt freshmen making a big jump. Burnham spent 2022 entirely out of the spotlight and is the type of highly-touted recruit that the Irish need to start making noise beginning this off-season.