Michigan State football looking to flip legacy recruit from Notre Dame

At this point in the recruiting cycle program’s recruiting classes are pretty much complete. Yes there were still be some movement and many commits who are yet to announce where they will go to school for their freshman season, but for the most part recruiting classes are pretty full and not many changes will be made to them.

That is the case for Michigan State football’s 2025 recruiting class that currently sits with 16 commits. That number will rise before the December signing day, but the fireworks that we see during the offseason likely won’t happen the rest of the cycle.

However, there is a new rumor floating around that Jonathan Smith and his staff are after a Notre Dame commit that just so happens to be a legacy recruit.

Elijah Burress is a three-star wide receiver from Wayne, NJ. According to 247Sports, he is the No. 51 wide receiver in the country and the No. 13 player from the state of New Jersey.

Burress has been committed to Notre Dame since February, but Smith and his staff are reportedly doing what they can to flip him.

Momentum in the Michigan State program is at an all time high after their 27-24 upset win over Maryland on Saturday, so it’s wise to use that momentum on the recruiting trail as much as possible. This is also perfect timing to go after a Notre Dame commit considering the Irish just had one of the most embarrassing losses of the season at home to Northern Illinois.

But the biggest reason that Michigan State has a chance in this recruitment is because Burress is a legacy recruit. His father, Plaxico Burress, played wide receiver at MSU from 1998-99 and was as good of a receiver as we’ve seen in East Lansing. Burress still ranks No. 8 all time in career receiving yards at Michigan State with 2,155 which is quite impressive considering he only played two seasons at Michigan State. He also has the second most receiving yards (255) in a single game when the Spartans beat Michigan in 1999.

So that history surely won’t hurt Michigan State’s chances in this recruitment.

Burress also publically spoke about Michigan State to 247Sports in the above post which is very significant. Most players that are committed to a program don’t publically speak about other programs, so that shows his interest in MSU is very high.

It’s time to see what Smith and his staff are made of. They are yet to flip a commit this late in the cycle in their tenure, but they have a great chance to do so with Burress. I also can’t deny how sweet it’d be for them to take a Notre Dame commit as well.

Let’s hope they get this one done soon.