Notre Dame football: What TE Cooper Flanagan brings to the Irish
By Carlee North
The Notre Dame football team got a major commitment on Thursday, as Cooper Flanagan will head to South Bend, and here is what that means for the Irish.
Notre Dame football has landed its first offensive recruit in the 2023 cycle with California tight end Cooper Flanagan committing to the Irish. Flanagan visited back in June, and it was clear that if the Irish staff pulled the trigger and offered, it was going to be near impossible for anyone to trump his dream school in the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame football did exactly that and offered Flanagan in August, so it was only a matter of time, and now it’s officially public. The prestige of Notre Dame, along with the “Tight End U” logo firmly in South Bend, was just too much for anyone to overcome with Flanagan.
At the moment Cooper committed to the Irish, he held 12 offers from the likes of Washington, Florida State, Michigan, and many more.
What will Cooper Flanagan bring to the Notre Dame football program?
The 6’5 230-pound tight end plays the game in a way that Notre Dame wants and utilizes. He’s physical, has solid hands and route-running abilities, but early on in his career, excels at blocking and being physical, which is hard to come by nowadays.
He’s definitely more of an attached tight end at the moment, in my eyes, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Think Brock Wright when you talk about blocking at this point of his career, but he also seems to have a little bit more fluidity, a tad bit more athletic. He’s someone that will become a big factor in the middle of the field, especially on play-action and RPOs.
It’s very hard to stop someone that has the savviness and athletic ability, along with pure size over the middle, and that’s exactly where I see Flanagan making a household name. Obviously, his body and skills on the line will also be huge in the run game and will open up big holes for the backfield for years to come.
With Cooper Flanagan making it official the 2023 recruiting class now has four commitments, with three on defense, and Flanagan being the first one on offense. Of course, it’s a tight end that had a dream school of the Irish, and if that’s not obvious, then I don’t know what is.
At moment Notre Dame holds a top-3 class in the 2023 rankings and it doesn’t seem like that momentum is slowing down with a ton of massive targets the staff has a great chance at landing. Now it’s about finishing that off. The Irish did that with Flanagan and the others, let’s see if that continues. For now though “Tight End U” lives on, and there could even be another big-time tight end target in the class down the road to join Cooper and this group.
Great start for 2023!