All-American Bowl journal: Notre Dame LB Joshua Burnham recaps first two days

Throughout the week at the All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, Traverse City (Mich.) Central class of 2022 linebacker and Notre Dame signee Joshua Burnham will share his thoughts and experiences of taking part in the prestigious postseason all-star game.

Below are his thoughts from the first two days.

On travel from Michigan to Texas for the All-American Bowl: We woke up around 4:30 a.m. and drove to the airport in Traverse City and flew to Chicago. I had a three-hour layover and then flew out of Chicago to San Antonio at about 10:15 a.m. and got there around 1 p.m. The airports weren’t super busy, thankfully, and I had time to walk around and find where my next flight would be. We took a bus back to the hotel and gathered all of the swag and gear that we would need over the week.

On his roommate for the week & goals for the week: I’m rooming with [Notre Dame defensive end signee] Aiden Gobaira this week, and we already have a good relationship, so it’s good to know I have someone like that in my room. I’m looking forward to building relationships with the Notre Dame commits and just go out and compete every day. I’m going to try and make me and my teammates better and obviously go out and get the win.

On being with 10 other Notre Dame commits during the week: I think we are all super pumped to be able to see each other again. I know most of us are going straight to Notre Dame after the game, so it’s nice talking with everyone about it and preparing for it.

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On excitement for the week: I’m still taking it in about being here and going around and doing everything. Hanging out with all of the Notre Dame commits is awesome. We are all ready to play this game and have some fun against each other

On practice No. 1: The first day was sweet, we got to practice in the Alamodome which was awesome. Practice was really fun – getting to work with all the linebackers and then going to team period playing with everyone was crazy. There’s much talent everywhere on the field. It was good to be playing some football again, that’s for sure.

Majority of the Irish’s 2022 class are all-stars

Notre Dame signed 21 recruits during the early signing period, but the Fighting Irish are looking at adding more player(s), whether that be in the high school or transfer portal ranks. Notre Dame even offered Portland (Ore.) Lake Oswego wide receiver Justius Lowe last week and spoke to BlueandGold.com’s Mike Singer about the news.

Of the 21 recruits, 16 of them are playing or have already played in one of the three major postseason all-star games: the All-American Bowl, the Under Armour All-America Game and the Polynesian Bowl.

On Monday, the players set to compete in the premier postseason all-star game arrived in San Antonio, Texas. The All-American Bowl recruits practice Tuesday-Friday ahead of the contest which will air on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on NBC.

Notre Dame will be well-represented in the game with 11 signees set to participate.

Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne offensive tackle Aamil Wagner, Chantilly (Va.) High defensive end Aiden Gobaira, Traverse City (Mich.) Central linebacker Joshua Burnham and Lawrenceburg (Ind.) High offensive lineman Ashton Craig are the Fighting Irish signees on the East squad.

Notre Dame will have seven recruits playing on the West team, including Camas (Wash.) Union wide receiver Tobias Merriweather, St. Louis John Burroughs defensive end Tyson Ford, Mission Hills (Calif.) Bishop Alemany linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka, Zionsville (Ind.) High offensive lineman Joey Tanona, Fond du Lac (Wis.) St. Mary’s Springs offensive lineman Billy Schrauth, Grand Rapids (Mich.) Catholic Central linebacker Nolan Ziegler and Indian Trail (N.C.) Metrolina Christian Academy punter Bryce McFerson.

A breakdown with of both squad’s rosters with jersey numbers is listed by On3 here.

Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic quarterback Steve Angeli, Hilton Head (S.C.) High linebacker Jaylen Sneed and Groton (Mass.) Lawrence Academy offensive lineman Ty Chan played in the Under Armour Game on Sunday.

Atlanta Westminster tight end Holden Staes and Phoenix Brophy Prep cornerback Benjamin Morrison are playing in the Polynesian Bowl later this month.

All five of Notre Dame’s offensive line recruits and the four linebacker signees were invited to one of the major postseason all-star games.

Notre Dame’s 2022 recruiting class currently ranks as the No. 6 group in the country per the On3 Consensus. 90% of the class is considered “blue chip” recruits, which is a prospect with a four-star ranking or higher.

Sneed is the highest ranked prospect in the Irish’s class with a ranking of No. 34 nationally. He also ranks as the No. 3 linebacker in America per the On3 Consensus.