Just Call Him All-Purpose Burris : Notre Dame: He is making a name for himself as a safety, but he does much more.

Months ago, when Jeff Burris reported for the first day of fall practice at Notre Dame, he noticed something different on the back of his football cleats.

Rather than put Burris’ jersey number on the shoes, Irish equipment manager Chris Matlock had written in wide black marking ink the name Gordie.

It figures. Burris came to Notre Dame four years ago as a tailback, with visions of becoming just like his hero, the sleek and begoggled Eric Dickerson.

Instead, he will leave as a possible All-American free safety, team captain, special-teams workaholic, sometimes tailback and honorary namesake of Gordie Lockbaum, former two-way star from Holy Cross. Burris might even make an appearance as a running back in Saturday’s game against No. 1-ranked Florida State.

“Dickerson was my man,” Burris said. “I would watch him at SMU, and I just loved the way he ran the ball. He wore a neck roll on his pads, so I sort of dressed like him. I would make my running style pretty much like his.”

But not these days. Switched to the secondary in 1990, Burris has pretty much stayed there and created an unintentional legacy that his coaches still marvel at. It’s what you get for being versatile.

“I was living out the dream of being a tailback at Notre Dame,” Burris said.

Of course, Dickerson would have needed smelling salts had Southern Methodist coaches asked him to actually tackle someone. Dickerson was built for speed, not the kickoff coverage team.

But Dickerson’s name isn’t on Burris’ cleats, now is it? That honor belongs to Lockbaum, who played running back and defensive back and led Division I-AA in receptions in 1987 and scoring in 1986.

Lockbaum is an account executive for a Worcester, Mass., insurance company and also is the color analyst for Holy Cross radio broadcasts. Friends and family made sure to tell him about Burris, perhaps the only major Division I-A player to spend so much time on the field.

“I obviously take that as a huge compliment,” Lockbaum said of the shoe markings. “At least my name will be involved in a big game this weekend.”

Burris figures to be in the middle of it. He starts at free safety, but if pressed he could switch to strong safety or either of the cornerback spots. Of the five special teams, Burris is on four of them. He also plays as a tailback in goal-line situations.

For this, he is called Gordie by his teammates. Eric II would have been nice, but this will do.

Burris, of little Rock Hill, S.C., is at Notre Dame by accident. Georgia and Clemson were the recruiting front-runners until Burris’ high school coach, Jimmy Wallace, got a letter from the Irish.

“You might want this,” said the coach, handing him the letter.

Burris took the letter, took a trip to South Bend, returned home and said: “That’s the place I want to go.”

So he did, only to discover that the Irish had too many running backs and not nearly enough defensive backs.

There was also this matter of intimidation. Burris spent part of his freshman year in a daze.

“I was very nervous about leaving (Rock Hill),” he said. “And I was very nervous about myself. Could I take a step forward to the next level?

“That year was very strange. I can recall Ricky Watters walking on the field and all of us freshmen just turned and looked, like, ‘That’s Ricky Watters.’

“And Rocket (Ismail) . . . I had never seen an athlete like that before. I remember catching punts with him--I was the backup, backup, backup punt returner--and he would catch punts like he was catching passes.”

Burris got over the stage fright. He played in 10 of 11 games as a freshman. As a sophomore, he started four games at free safety and eight at cornerback. Along the way he earned honorable mention All-American. As a junior, he led Notre Dame in interceptions and finished third in tackles.

This season, Burris has three interceptions, 40 tackles, a blocked field goal, a punt return for a touchdown, a 44-yard run on a fake punt and three touchdowns rushing.

“South Carolina has been awfully good to the Holtz family,” said Coach Lou Holtz. “He could play for anybody in the country. He could play for a lot of years (in the NFL).”

Holtz, who says Burris is one of the best defensive backs he has ever seen, isn’t the only one to wax enthusiastic about Burris and the Notre Dame secondary. Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward, who is usually as cool as your grocer’s frozen-food section, hurries to praise the Burris-led secondary. And Seminole Coach Bobby Bowden gushes about Notre Dame’s defensive backfield.

Everyone seems impressed except Burris, who can’t figure out what all the fuss is about.

“Being seven yards deep is a different story,” he said, referring to the tailback spot. “I think about it, but I really enjoy the (secondary). Anyway, there’s a lot of pressure on the tailbacks here.”

In case he didn’t know it, there will be a bit of pressure on Notre Dame’s secondary Saturday. The Seminoles average 44.3 points per game. Ward, who is all but guaranteed the Heisman Trophy, has passed for more than 2,000 yards and has yielded only one interception. Florida State can run the ball, too. Just ask Miami, which can tell the Irish all about freshman Warrick Dunn.

“They’re awesome,” Burris said after watching the Seminoles.

Burris isn’t bad himself, which is why a certain Massachusetts insurance executive will keep a close eye on Saturday’s results.

“Hopefully, this kid will do something that will be quite memorable,” Lockbaum said. “That way I can say I was on the side of the kid’s shoes.”