Notre Dame football hosted 2025 defensive end commit Christopher Burgess Jr. on a visit last weekend for junior day. Burgess, a four-star recruit out of Chicago Simeon, was last on campus in September for the Ohio State game, when he was uncommitted.
Per Rivals, Burgess is the No. 6 strongside defensive end and No. 62 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class. The 6-foot-4, 241-pound Burgess committed to ND over finalists Alabama, Ohio State and Michigan.
Although he committed earlier this month and already had multiple visits to campus under his belt, Burgess told me it was always the goal for him and his family to get back for junior day.
"Felt it was important to get back so that I can continue to build relationships," Burgess told Inside ND Sports. "[Head] Coach [Marcus] Freeman and [defensive line] coach [Al] Washington hung out with me for a few hours the day before junior day ... it’s always good to see them."
Burgess said Freeman and Washington asked about his school year so far and how his offseason is progressing. Since the group had just caught up the day before, Burgess said junior day was mostly about becoming more familiar with each other and learning more about the coaches, program philosophy and more. Burgess also said Freeman reiterated the 4-for-40 approach in speeches to the recruits and one-on-one conversations with Burgess, his brother and father.
Later in the day on Saturday, Burgess attended Notre Dame's hockey game at the Compton Family Ice Arena, where they defeated Penn State 6-3. It was his first time meeting 2025 cornerback commit Cree Thomas and 2025 defensive end target Damien Shanklin.
Burgess told me the relationships within the class are growing and said the five defensive line commitments — himself, CJ May, Dominik Hulak, Joseph Reiff and Davion Dixon — all have different skillsets that they can bring to Notre Dame's defense and help the Irish win a championship. Burgess said he's fully healthy after suffering an arm injury last season and is working to be dominant in everyhting he does this offseason.
Link to full story:
InsideNDSports - Why ND's junior day was important to 2025 DE commit Christopher Burgess Jr.
Notre Dame football's junior day was the first campus visit for 2025 DE Christopher Burgess Jr. since he committed.
notredame.rivals.com
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