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Blake Baumgartner, ESPN Staff Writer
Elijah Burress, the son of former Michigan State and NFL wide receiver Plaxico Burress, committed to Notre Dame on Saturday.
The product of DePaul Catholic High School (Wayne, N.J.) adds to a 2025 Fighting Irish class that already has seven ESPN 300 prospects, tied for second most with Ohio State. In ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle — released on Dec. 22 — the class sat third behind Georgia and Alabama.
The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Burress caught 25 passes for 434 yards and five touchdowns in 10 games as a junior for the Spartans last season.
Notre Dame recruited two ESPN 300 wide receivers — Cam Williams (No. 47 overall) and Micah Gilbert (No. 257 overall) — for its 2024 class, which ranked 12th in ESPN’s rankings.
After playing for Nick Saban at Michigan State from 1996 to ’99, the elder Burress was drafted eighth overall in 2000 by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played 12 seasons for the Steelers, New York Giants and the New York Jets, catching 553 passes for 8,499 yards and 64 touchdowns over 148 career games.
Elijah Burress joins four-star cornerback Ivan Taylor (No. 30 overall in 2025) at Notre Dame; Taylor’s father, Ike, played for the Steelers and was teammates with Plaxico Burress.