‘#SteelIrish:’ Notre Dame’s 2025 recruiting class continues NFL lineage

• J.J. Post, ESPNJun 18, 2024, 06:32 PM ET If you tune into a Notre Dame football game next year, you might seem like you’re viewing a game in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and not South Bend, Indiana.Editor’s Picks

1 Associated Notre Dame’s 2025 recruiting class presently slots in at No. 2 in ESPN’s ranking, with the chance to be the Irish’s highest-ranked class in a decade. It likewise revives memories for Pittsburgh Steelers fans from the early 2000s.

Included in the list of recruits currently set to sign with Notre Dame this winter season are Ivan Taylor, Elijah Burress and Jerome Bettis Jr. The trio’s daddies overlapped on the Steelers’ lineup from April 2003– when Ivan’s daddy Ike Taylor was prepared– to the end of the 2004 season, when Elijah’s father Plaxico Burress signed with the New york city Giants.Former @Steelers Plaxico Burress, Ike Taylor and Jerome Bettis pose with their boys Elijah, Ivan and Jerome Jr. are all devoted to dip into

@NDFootball( via @elijahburress )pic.twitter.com/pqdtQYUdZh!.?.!— NFL (@NFL)June 17, 2024 The Pittsburgh family tree is the most current example of a trend throughout the Irish lineup, with the kids of NFL veterans flocking to South Bend. Signing Up With Taylor, Burress and Bettis in Notre Dame’s 2025 recruiting class is James Flanigan, whose daddy Jim had a nine-year NFL stint.The NFL connections don’t end in the Irish’s high school hiring ranks. Two of the team’s current graduate transfers, Jordan Clark and R.J. Oben, have dads who both invested

more than a decade in the league. Jordan’s daddy Ryan, who just missed the previously mentioned Steelers trio however overlapped with both Taylor and Burress when the latter gone back to Pittsburgh in 2012, took to social media to respond to the employees ‘photo.Real talk this is one of the most difficult hire pictures ever !! @Ike_SwagginU, @JeromeBettis36 & @plaxicoburress I see y’ all!! #SteelIrish @Marcus_Freeman1 constructing a MONSTER in South Bend! https://t.co/2KZBevngkl!.?.!— Ryan Clark(@Realrclark25)June 17, 2024 This fall, Oben and Clark will join a lineup already filled with NFL family tree. Incoming freshmen Kennedy Urlacher and Bryce Young are the kids of Pro Football Hall of Famers Brian Urlacher and Bryant Young. Offensive lineman Rocco Spindler’s daddy Marc played 8 seasons in the league, and star protective back Benjamin Morrison’s daddy Darryl spent three seasons with the now-Washington Leaders. Rounding out the list is stalwart defensive lineman Howard Cross III, who shares his name with his father, a league veteran with more than 200 games under his belt for the Giants.No matter who your NFL team is, if you find yourself viewing the Irish this fall be prepared to potentially take a trip down memory lane.