Josh Burnham And Junior Tuihalamaka Are Ready To Lead Notre Dame's Defense End Unit

The defensive end rotation in South Bend is relatively young, but two veterans have the opportunity to step up and lead this upcoming season. Senior Junior Tuihalamaka and redshirt junior Josh Burnham will be called upon to step into a leadership role for this unit in 2025 and both players are ready to take on that responsibility.

"Definitely," Tuihalamaka answered when asked about taking on a leadership role. "Definitely looking forwad to taking on a role of helping players in my position, helping guys like Boubcar Traore, Loghan Thomas, Chris Burgess, and even Bryce Young; just all the defensive ends in general. We all, at the end of the day, are trying to make each other better." 

Last season, the end position was hit with several unfortunately injuries that required Tuihalamaka to step into a bigger role. Despite not playing a defensive snap in the first two regular season games, the 6-2, 255-pound California native was ready when his number was called.

"I'd say it's God's doing," Tuihalamaka explained. "I knew my time would come eventually. It sucks that it happened like that. I don't want anyone to think it was just given to me. I'm that type of player where everything I have to do is earned. Even if people think I had a good season, I feel like I could have had a better season. It didn't start off the way I wanted it to. But obviously the plays I made last year have given the coaches confidence in myself to go out there this season and make even more plays." 

The Notre Dame defensive line lost some impactful leadership from last season with Rylie Mills and Howard Cross III; Burnham is ready to take on a leadership role for the entire unit, not just the defensive ends.

"Yeah, they’ve definitely set a great example," Burnham said when asked about the two veterans from last year. "But especially me personally, I feel responsible and feel like I can be the one to step up and be more of a vocal leader this year. Honestly, I’ve been trying to do that this offseason and throughout fall camp."

Burnham is surrounding by a lot of talent in the defensive line room, and this offseason, has be extremely pleased with the level of competition he's going against day in and day out.

"Yeah, it’s been great," Burnham stated. "Everybody in the defensive line room are just next-level competitors. It honestly makes all of us better, especially Bryce, competing with him but also helping him every day. It’s only helping me and letting me get better as well.

We have Jordan Botelho coming back and Boubacar’s gonna be back; we had some injured guys that are gonna be healthy. It’s an awesome feeling to know that you can go out there for four or five plays, give your all and someone’s gonna be right there to be able to pick up where you left off."

Defensive line coach Al Washington is also confident in the leadership capabilities of his two veterans and is pleased with how far they've come during their time in South Bend.

"Their experience is phenomenal," Washington said about the two seniors. "Their play and their confidence was enhanced. I don’t think Junior played a snap in the first two games. Then, to see how he finished the year, he was one of our more productive guys. Then Josh finished the year with two sacks against Ohio State. Those guys are two good examples of how being smart, tough, athletic, all those things but also being smart helps you through those moments to elevate your game."

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @TTrow5
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter