With IMG Academy’s disruptive five-star DT David Stone off the board and committed to Oklahoma, college programs will be shifting their attention to other highly-ranked defensive linemen in the recruiting class of 2024.
One such prospect to keep an eye on is Simeon (Ill.) four-star edge Chris Burgess Jr., who has offers from 31 different schools. According to Adam Gorney at Rivals, Notre Dame is “definitely” a major contender.
“All of Burgess’ games are on Saturdays this year which makes putting together a visit schedule problematic but the 2025 four-star defensive end from Chicago (Ill.) Simeon has two huge matchups already on the calendar. Notre Dame is definitely a major contender for Burgess and he will be in South Bend when the Irish host Ohio State as he will double-dip with the Buckeyes since he’s seeing them again when they visit Michigan to close out the regular season.”
Depending on which of the four major recruiting services you look at, Burgess (6-foot-4, 241 pounds) ranks as high as No. 2 in overall in Illinois, No. 9 at edge and No. 114 nationally.
While his rankings are pretty consistent, Burgess’ recruitment seems to be wide open. On3’s prediction model currently has Notre Dame as a weak favorite at 29.1%, followed by Illinois (20.5%), Michigan (17.6%) and Ohio State (7.5%).
The Fighting Irish could certainly use a shot in the arm for their class of 2024. After ranking in the top five earlier in the cycle, they’ve stagnated and sunk to No. 12 in the nation.
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