Notre Dame Commit Christopher Burgess Has Already Set High Expectations

Heading into his live commitment during the 2024 All-American Bowl last Saturday, 2025 Chicago (Ill.) Simeon defensive end Christopher Burgess has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Choosing between Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama and LSU, there were a lot of pitches and pluses to sort through.

Burgess eventually opted for the Irish, a school that had shown such high interest in from the start. Now a few days removed from that hectic final days, the 6-4, 240-pound pass rusher can reflect on the decision he made in front of millions of people.

"It feels amazing,” Burgess told Irish Breakdown. "I feel like I got all the weight off my shoulders. It feels like I'm home.”

Burgess also got to relive that moment. He had the chance to commit in front of everyone with his family right by his side. That was a special moment.

"Well, it was like a lot of nerves going on because you got all the attention going towards you,” he said. "You got a lot of cameras going towards you, over like a million people watching on television. So the nerves were pumping, you know?”

Luckily, there was a guiding light down the stretch that helped to keep the Chicago native comfortable and grounded.

"Looking back, I'm super grateful and happy because I wouldn't say it's like a lot of emotion going up to the decision because Coach (Marcus) Freeman told me to just take your emotions out of the pitch and just choose where your heart wants to go,” Burgess continued. "So that's what I did. I just took my emotions out, took my feelings out, just chose where my heart was going.”

Two things ended up being very important for Burgess, who is ranked as the No. 61 overall player and No. 6 EDGE in the 2025 recruiting class according to Rivals. One was proximity to his family. The other is relationships with the coaches and comfort long term.

"Like I said, Notre Dame is in my backyard, they're an hour away,” he began to explain. "They were also the number one school that had the best relationship with my parents. They invested a lot of time into me. They hosted workouts with me and they did a lot of stuff with me. They were the ones. I had to choose them.

"(Relationships) were also very important,” Burgess continued. "I wanted to know the coaches personally. For the school I'm going to pick, I just wanted to know every single coach who I was going to be around, who was going to coach me. I just wanted to know if I choose a school, if they are going to take care of me in the long run. That was my most important thing.”

It was never a question how important Burgess was to the Notre Dame 2025 class. They quickly made him a priority, a player that they needed to keep home. The staff pulled out all the stops, building key relationships with several coaches. They even pulled out their secret weapon down the stretch.

"It was mostly Deuce Knight,” Burgess stated. "He was the one that was recruiting me all the time. I'm sure he recruited other players, but he was recruiting me hard, telling me Notre Dame is the place to be. He was telling me that I had to come to Notre Dame, that it’s home. I was like, if a player is trying to recruit another player that much, they must be doing something right. So that's really the reason I picked Notre Dame as well.”

Now with recruiting behind him, Burgess can now focus on tapping into his upside. Burgess is a confident kid and he let Notre Dame fans know what they should expect of him.

"Well, they should expect a great player coming out of Notre Dame,” he said. "They should expect a first rounder coming out of Notre Dame. So they should expect a lot out of me. They should expect a national championship coming in the future.”

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Irish Breakdown Content

2024 Scholarship Chart
2023 Football Schedule

Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

2024 Commit Rankings - Offense
2024 Commit Rankings - Defense

2024 Recruiting Class Grades - Offense
2024 Recruiting Class Grades - Defense

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