Notre Dame Impact Players For 2025: No. 14 Defensive End Joshua Burnham

Notre Dame is now 14 days away from kicking off the 2025 season against the Miami Hurricanes down in Hard Rock Stadium. The Irish will be relying on some impact players to get them through the home opener as well as getting them back to another run at the National Championship. I broke down who I believe will be the top 50 impactful players for Notre Dame this season. Let’s continue this countdown to kickoff with my No. 14 most impactful player, defensive end Joshua Burnham.

Burnham is entering is redshirt junior season in South Bend and is now taking on a massive role within the defense. He will likely be the starter at one of the end positions and ended last season as one of their healthiest and most consistent defensive lineman. As his redshirt sophomore season progressed, Burnham began to to make impact play after impact play. This year, he's looking to put it all together in what was could be one of the better Notre Dame defenses to date.

What He Brings To The Table

The Traverse City, Michigan native is an extremely smart football player. He's a former high school quarterback and middle linebacker, so his understanding for the game is at a very high level. Don't let that distract you from the fact that he's a really proven athlete. Burnham is a very long defensive end at 6-4, 260-pounds. The moved to defensive end from middle linebacker proved to be a smart one. He's made his impact felt in spurts, but injuries have kept him from being on the field for any consistent amount of time, but when he has been on the field, he's been really impressive.

In his first game back from injury, Burnham intercepted a pitch from Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels and returns the ball inside of Stanford territory. As the season progressed, he became a steady factor at defensive end and proved to be one of Al Washington's most reliable playmakers. His performance in the Penn State game continues to go unnoticed, but he had one of the bigger plays in the red zone in the first half. Burnham is on the verge of a breakout season, and his athletic ability combined with his experience is a strong indicator.

What Is His Impact?

Burnham is one of the more experienced players in the defensive end rotation. He, along with senior Junior Tuihalamaka, are two of the oldest in the rotation and have been mentors all offseason to players like Bryce Young, Loghan Thomas, Boubacar Traore and a handful of others. The Michigan native has the opportunity to be named a captain on defense, a side of the ball that lost four team captains from a season ago to the NFL Draft. Burnham is a strong potential candidate to backfill one of those captain slots.

At the bare minimum, Burnham is an impact starter along the defensive line rotation. With sixth year senior Jordan Botelho working his way back from injury and Traore's workload remaining unclear, Burnham has the opportunity to take his game to the next level this year and become a star on defense. The ingredients are all there for a breakout season. His experience, athleticism and playmaking ability are all reasons why Burnham is my No. 14 most impactful player for Notre Dame in 2025.

PAST TOP 50 BREAKDOWNS

No. 15 - Aamil Wagner
No. 16 - Gabriel Rubio
No. 17 - Jason Onye
No. 18 - Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa
No. 19 - Jordan Faison
No. 20 - Ashton Craig
No. 21 - Boubacar Traore
No. 22 - Aneyas Williams
No. 24 - DeVonta Smith
No. 25 - Jaiden Ausberry
No. 26 - Donovan Hinish
No. 27 - Junior Tuihalamaka
No. 28 - Jared Dawson
No. 29 - Armel Mukam
No. 30 - Will Pauling
No. 31 - Jaylen Sneed
No. 32 - Luke Talich
No. 33 - Jalen Stroman
No. 34 - Micah Gilbert
No. 35 - Loghan Thomas
No. 36 - Cam Williams
No. 37 - Tae Johnson
No. 38 - JaDon Blair
No. 39 - Karson Hobbs
No. 40 - Kevin Bauman
No. 41 - Ty Washington
No. 42 - Jack Larsen
No. 43 - Cole Mullins
No. 44 - Preston Zinter
No. 45 - James Flanigan
No. 46 - Noah Burnette
No. 47 - Guerby Lambert
No. 48 - Sullivan Absher
No. 49 - Jordan Botelho
No. 50 - Charles Jagusah

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