Joe Burger

Classroom

Joe Burger worked this year with Dr. Matthew Stoltzfus in the Chemistry Department on a new mentorship program called “Finding Undergraduate Success.” The program focuses on mentorship for incoming freshmen in the chemistry field. Burger was actually a mentor to the mentors, advising them on what it means to be a mentor, ways to teach better study habits, and different ways to challenge and work with students. He was a part of a high school outreach program for the engineering department that addressed S.T.E.M. careers and options and spoke to students at two high schools in his hometown of Cincinnati.

Burger mentors two students through the Industrial Systems Engineering (ISE) co-hort program. He was part of the ISE Leadership Summit and was the “talent” in a video that he helped develop through the Cognitive Systems Engineering Department that looked at how cognitive systems engineering can be used on the football field. Burger made the key tackle on a fake punt attempt in a 7-point win over Indiana in 2015 and the video focused on this play while he details through frame activation how he understood what was happening on the field as the play transpired. Burger was selected into the leadership development program at JP Morgan Chase and completed a summer internship this year. He had previously interned with Columbus industrial engineering firm TP Mechanical and has addressed the topic of faith to students at six area high schools as part of the “Sports Leaders” program.

Character

Burger received the most votes of any player from his teammates to serve as a captain of the Ohio State football team this year. This is because he has worked hard to earn their respect on top of a football scholarship and complete a journey from preferred walk-on into a valuable contributor on the playing field and a role-model citizen off the field. He also is the captain of the team’s punting units, an honor that only the head coach bestows and doesn’t come lightly. “Burger is as smart as anyone we have in the linebacker room,” defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Luke Fickell said. “He’s like a coach. Even if he isn’t a starter on defense or when he isn’t in the game, he will bring his incredible value to the position as a coach to the younger players. But that’s the kind of person he is…he sets the standard for everything we do in our linebacker corps.”

Burger is vying to join his father, Robert Burger, as a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete. Robert was named an NFF Scholar-Athlete in 1980 while playing for Notre Dame. He, too, was initially a walk-on college football player who developed into a key contributor on the field and a leader off of it. A distant cousin of Burger’s, Greg Frey, is one of Ohio State’s 21 NFF Scholar-Athletes, earning the honor in 1990.

Community

In addition to the extensive activities Burger has been involved with as a campus leader, his time at Ohio State also includes a plethora of community service efforts. He has volunteered five afternoons at the Mid-Ohio Food Bank packing food and supplies, a dozen visits with patients at the OSU Medical Center/James Cancer Research Center, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the VA Hospital, and another 10-15 visits to local elementary schools reading to second graders as part of the 2nd & 7 Program.

Competition

Burger has played in 37 games for the Buckeyes as a key special teams performer and a backup at one of the linebacker positions, and he has earned three Varsity O letters. He has played in every game the past three seasons, including all 15 games during Ohio State’s 2014 run to the National Championship and all 13 games last season. Including his red-shirt season of 2012, Burger has been a part of a program that has gone 53-4 over the past three seasons, including 31-1 in Big Ten Conference games. Burger is about to reach a significant achievement by earning a fourth varsity letter in football after initially walking on to the team, something that isn’t easily reached through 126 seasons of football at Ohio State.