With pioneering five-star DT David Stone retiring from IMG Academy’s board and committed to Oklahoma, college programs will turn their attention to other senior defensive linemen in the 2024 recruiting class.
One such prospect to keep an eye on is four-star Chris Burgess Jr. of Simeon, Illinois, who has offers from 31 different schools. Accordingly Adam Gorney at Rivals, Notre Dame is “definitely” a prime contender.
“All of Burgess’ games are on Saturdays this year, which makes putting together a visiting schedule difficult, but 2025 four-star defender Chicago, Illinois Simeon already has two big meetings on the calendar. Notre Dame is definitely a prime candidate for Burgess and he’ll be in South Bend when the Irish host Ohio State as he’ll double-dip with the Buckeyes since he sees them again when they visit Michigan for the regular season finish.”
Depending on which of the Big Four recruitment services you look at, Burgess (6’10, 250 pounds) ranks 2nd overall in Illinois, 9th at the Edge, and 114th nationally.
While his rankings are fairly consistent, Burgess’ recruitment seems completely open-ended. On3’s prediction model Currently, Notre Dame is the 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 in 2024. After ranking in the top five early in the cycle, they stagnated, falling to 12th in the nation.
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