Michigan Football: Time to worry about 4-star LB Joshua Burnham?

Michigan football got some great news on Sunday with Will Johnson and then some worrisome signs with Joshua Burnham afterward. 

If you’re a fan of Michigan football recruiting, you probably felt pretty good when you went to bed last night following the commitment of five-star cornerback Will Johnson.

And while there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the commitment of Johnson, as outlined here, there was a bit of a letdown this morning when Joshua Burnham, another priority target of Michigan football started picking up crystal ball picks for Notre Dame.

Prior to this morning, Burnham, the No. 9 outside linebacker in the class of 2022 according to the 247 sports composite rankings, had six crystal ball picks for Michigan football.

His ranking has dropped a little bit recently and the 6-foot-4, 215-pound outside linebacker is still the second-ranked recruit in the state of Michigan and is listed as the No. 115 player overall.

Not long ago, Burnham released his top three, which included the Wolverines, who had long been considered the favorite, as well as Wisconsin and Notre Dame.

Like with Johnson, there was probably a stall in momentum during the 2020 season. The Wolverines struggled and then there was a ton of uncertainty surrounding head coach Jim Harbaugh and his staff.

However, it seemed like Michigan football had weathered that storm and when Burnham first released his list, I was confident in the Wolverines.

But then, came the loss of Brian Jean-Mary to Tennessee. Jean-Mary was the linebackers coach and the last coach on the defensive staff to have a relationship with Burnham, who is out of Traverse City, Michigan.

At the same time, Notre Dame and new defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman have been making a strong push and it seems to be working as the Fighting Irish got three crystal ball projections, with a confidence level of six on a scale of 1-10 for one of Michigan’s top targets.

This recruitment feels a bit like Rocco Spindler, just in the sense that it’s down to Michigan-Notre Dame and always has been.

Notre Dame was able to come into the state of Michigan to land an elite prospect there and unless the Wolverines can turn things around quickly, the same thing could happen with Burnham.

Since his top three wasn’t released that long ago, a decision might not be too far down the road, so the fact that he’s trending to Notre Dame right now is a bad sign for Michigan football.