John McNulty and Tommy Rees landed the first offensive commit from the class of 2023 on Thursday when 4-star tight end Cooper Flanagan verbally committed to the Fighting Irish. The 6’5″/230-pounder out of Concord, California is the 4th player to join Notre Dame’s recruiting class of 2023 — a class which currently ranks 3rd in the country behind Oklahoma and Georgia.

Recruiting Service Rankings

ESPN — 4 star (80 rating), #272 overall, #10 TE-Y, #23 in CA

Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), NR overall, #17 TE, #18 in CA

247Sports — 4 star (92 rating), #93 overall, #8 TE, #9 in CA

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9362), #163 overall, #12 TE, #15 in CA

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (90 rating)

Cohort

Cooper chose the Irish over other offers from Michigan, Washington, Michigan State, Cal, Florida State, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon State, Tennessee, Utah, and San Jose State.

Highlights

Cooper is a true all-around tight end. He’s much more advanced as a blocker than most tight ends are at this stage. He can line up attached to the line or as an H-back. He has a tenacity as a blocker that will serve him extremely well at the college level. He’s not just a blocker though. He has plus athleticism and has nice ball skills when the ball is in the air. He looks very comfortable running down the seam and over the middle of the field in his routes.

Impact

As with most tight ends that commit to Notre Dame, it’s pretty difficult to determine how soon Cooper can be expected to make an impact on the field. He’s currently got Mitch Evans, Cane Berrong, Holden Staes, and Eli Raridon in the two classes ahead of him and that’s a really strong group. I’d bet on a redshirt year happening for Cooper just based on the strength of the depth chart and the fact that redshirt years have been pretty common for Notre Dame tight ends recently. With how advanced he is as a blocker right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Irish eventually used him in a similar fashion to how Tommy Tremble was used in 2020.

Welcome to the Irish family, Cooper!