Meet Joe Burger, the Walk-On Who Became an Ohio State Captain

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In the second half of the season-opening battle between Ohio State and Bowling Green, linebacker Joe Burger took the field, tallying four tackles, including a half-tackle for a loss.

If you were told four years ago this is how Burger's senior season debut in Ohio Stadium was going to play out, it would have made sense.

You just would have assumed he was playing on the other team.

An unranked prospect coming out of Cincinnati's LaSalle High School, Burger possessed scholarship offers following his impressive prep career—just not one to the school where he would eventually end up. Perhaps fittingly, one of the few schools to extend an invite to Burger to play for free happened to be Bowling Green, whom he would go on to record the best statistical game of his college career against in the first week of the 2016 campaign.

"They were great," Burger said of his recruitment with the Falcons. "The coaches that were there, they treated me great. I had an overall good experience...I definitely considered it. The scholarship offer kind of changed everything."

Yet when he took the field for the first game of his senior season, he did so not just in Scarlet and Gray, but as the unlikeliest of Ohio State's seven selected captains.

It's a journey from blue-collar walk-on to captain of a college football captain that only seems possible in the movies.

The Burger Way

A Division I all-state selection following a senior season that saw him tally 103 tackles, five sacks and an interception, Burger could have had his college paid for if he wanted it to be. In addition to Bowling Green, the class of 2012 prospect held scholarship offers from fellow Mid-American Conference schools in Miami (Ohio) and Buffalo.

But whereas many players in his position may view being on scholarship as a sign of status, playing at a big-time college football program was always Burger's priority when it came to his college decision.

"I always wanted to play in the Big Ten," Burger said. "That was always my goal."

So Burger packed his bags and headed two hours north up I-71, landing in Columbus as a preferred walk-on on Urban Meyer's first team at Ohio State. And while that meant his family would be helping him pay his way through college, being a walk-on was more than a source of pride in the Burger household—it had become a way of life.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Joe's father, Bob, walked on at Notre Dame in 1977, before eventually earning not only a scholarship, but Academic All-American status as an offensive guard for the Fighting Irish in 1980. His older brother, Bobby, gave up a starting spot at FCS school Dayton in order to transfer to Notre Dame, where as a walk-on linebacker/tight end, he served as a special teams standout.

Even two of Burger's uncles were walk-ons for the Golden Domers, and his two other older brothers, Chris and John, were walk-on golfers at Xavier. So when it came time to choose where he'd be spending his college career, having a scholarship was never going to be a make-or-break deal.

"My dad always told me, 'You go where you truly want to go to,'" Burger recalled. "He said, 'Chase your dreams,' and my dream has always been at the highest level."

But while his father had no problem with him leaving scholarship offers on the table, he did have one question for Joe: If you're going to be a walk-on, why not follow in the rest of the family's footsteps at Notre Dame?

I kinda wanted to do my own thing," Burger said. "I don't mean that in a selfish way, but if I went to Notre Dame, I'm my dad's son. I’m my brother's brother.

"I came to Ohio State, so I'm just Joe Burger."

Breakfast Barriers

While he may have been a walk-on, Burger was used to being the big man on campus. In addition to being a standout on the gridiron, Burger helped lead the LaSalle basketball team to a state championship in 2011.

But when he arrived at Ohio State, the lightly recruited linebacker soon found himself the low man on the totem poll. In a linebacker room that possessed future NFL draft picks in Ryan Shazier and Joshua Perry and no shortage of prized prospects from Meyer's conquests on the recruiting trail, Burger barely managed to stand out, redshirting his first season on campus in 2012.

"I had been first team All-Ohio, and then I came here and I think I was fourth or fifth at the linebacker position on the depth chart, probably 13th out of 13 [linebackers] in the room," Burger says now. "That's a big adjustment."

Credit: 247Sports.com

But what truly made Burger cognizant of his status as a walk-on was the daily team meals after each morning workout. Up until 2014, full training table meals were only afforded to the 85 scholarship players allotted on each team roster.

That meant while teammates dined on egg omelets and breakfast meats, Burger and roommate Craig Fada, another Buckeyes linebacker, were limited to "snacks" consisting of just cereal and oatmeal.

"That got to me a little bit," Burger says. "It keeps that chip on the shoulder. It kind of reminds you where you came from and where you are. As a walk-on, you always have to be striving to get to the next level."

It didn't take long for Burger to find such opportunity.

"It's about what you do here"

When Meyer arrived at Ohio State in 2012, he implemented a program for newcomers to earn their keep with the Buckeyes program.

Adorning each freshman player's helmet with a black stripe, Meyer provided incentive for players to prove they were worthy of having their black stripes removed in order to "officially" join the OSU roster.

The sooner your black stripe is removed, the better you're likely performing.

"Some guys have their stripes on for quite a while," Meyer said. "That's an indicator that they're not quite doing what we asked them to do."

In Meyer's first fall camp in Columbus, the first seven players to have their black stripes removed made sense—each was a member of the Buckeyes' fifth-ranked 2012 recruiting class. Then came the eighth player, who was a name even the most hardcore of the Scarlet and Gray faithful were relatively unfamiliar with.

Yet to those around the Ohio State program, the early promise Burger showed was hardly a surprise. And with the versatility he provided both on the Buckeyes depth chart and on their various special teams units, it was easy to see how he could become a favorite of the Ohio State coaching staff.

"When you come in, those stars, all those things you had in recruiting, don't matter," Buckeyes defensive coordinator and linebacker coach Luke Fickell said at the time, explaining how a walk-on could be further ahead than so many of his classmates with scholarship status. 

"It's about what you do here. We don't care what you did before; it's what you do now and how you can help this team. There's a bunch of ways you can help this team, and we're proud to say Joe helped this team in a lot of different ways."

From the time his actual playing career began in 2013, the 6'2", 230-pounder's services were required almost immediately. As Meyer continued to reshape the Buckeyes roster in recruiting, Burger found himself with a spot on the Ohio State depth chart as a reserve linebacker, starting a game against Illinois when 5-star middle linebacker Curtis Grant went out with an injury.

In his sophomore season, playing time only increased. As the Buckeyes marched to an unlikely championship run in the inaugural season of the College Football Playoff, Burger appeared in all 15 of Ohio State's games as a contributor on various special teams units.

The highlight, however, of the Queen City native's college career came in 2015, when he stopped a fake punt attempt against Indiana in what ultimately wound up being just a one-score win for the Buckeyes.

"I could talk about him all day," Meyer said on the eve of Burger's senior season, a sentiment he's shared for the past four years. "As good a guy as there is."

Captain Joe

As soon as Ohio State's 2015 season came to an end, Meyer immediately named three captains for the Buckeyes' upcoming campaign: fifth-year offensive lineman Pat Elflein, star quarterback J.T. Barrett and standout linebacker Raekwon McMillan.

In late August, he added four more: returning starters Gareon Conley, Tyquan Lewis and Billy Price, and Burger.

From afar, the selection of Burger as a Buckeyes captain may not have made sense, with the playing time he's accrued during his college career primarily having come on special teams. But for those inside the Ohio State locker room, Burger's inclusion as a captain was hardly a surprise.

"I've learned a lot from Joe Burger myself as a linebacker, just the leadership traits he has on and off the field," said McMillan, one of Meyer's most highly prized recruits. "He comes in day in and day out and always does what he's supposed to do. Some guys are physically more gifted than him, but he always finds a way to win."

If there were anyone in the Buckeyes locker room surprised by how the preseason team vote for captains turned out, it may have been Burger himself.

"My name was on the sheet, but I had no idea how it was going to turn out," he said. "When I heard Coach Meyer call my name, it was just one of those feelings that you really can't describe. I'm forever grateful to my teammates, and I'm blessed to be around such a great group of people every single day."

It wasn't the first promotion of sorts Burger received last offseason.

Kirk Irwin/Getty Images

Losing nine underclassmen to the NFL draft, Ohio State suddenly found itself under its allotted 85-scholarship limit. Even for as well as they had been recruiting, the Buckeyes entered the offseason with two scholarships available, which Meyer—a former walk-on himself—opted to award to Burger and his roommate, Fada.

"There is nothing better than to be able to reward two guys who have become among the heart and souls of this program," Meyer said. "They are leaders, and they are among the most respected players on the team."

For Burger, finally receiving a scholarship was worth more than its monetary value. While he knew it may not have happened when he agreed to be a walk-on at Ohio State, he was hopeful one day his play would earn him such honor, just as it had for the rest of his family in their respective college careers. 

"I'm not gonna lie, I felt a lot of pressure last year," Burger said. "I was like, 'Man, if I don't do this, I'm really letting the family down.' So it was a big relief when I finally got put on scholarship."

So there was Burger taking the field for his senior season opener against the team that once recruited him, not just for the coin toss, but for a good chunk of the second half when starting linebacker Dante Booker left the game with an injury. Since then, his play has largely been relegated to special teams, where he continues to play a prominent role for the second-ranked Buckeyes.

Burger doesn't have any delusions about his future, with the engineering major stating, "Whether I like it or not, my football career will probably be over in January '17." But he's already had discussions with Meyer about potentially getting into coaching once his eligibility has expired, with a spot as a grad assistant or intern on the Buckeyes staff perhaps being there for the taking.

At the very least, Burger now finds himself a part of Ohio State lore, one of the select few walk-ons to ever leave such a prominent mark at the program, let alone be named a captain. And while his football future remains undetermined after this season, he knows where he'll be for at least one Saturday each fall.

Every homecoming, the Buckeyes captains of yesteryear return to Columbus to take part in a "Captains Breakfast" before the game.

It won't be the first free breakfast Burger has earned at Ohio State.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand. Recruiting and class ratings courtesy of 247Sports' composite ratings.