On Saturday afternoon, Notre Dame added the 2nd member of its 2025 recruiting class as tight end Nate Roberts verbally pledged to the Fighting Irish. The 6’4″ athlete hails from Washington, Oklahoma 30 miles south of Oklahoma City. Roberts plays at a small school (2A, the 6th highest level in Oklahoma) but his team is coming off a 17-0 season as state champions.

As a sophomore, Roberts caught 33 passes for 705 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2022.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9489), #121 overall, #5 TE, #3 in OK

On3 Consensus — 4 star (91.73 rating), #137 overall, #7 TE, #4 in OK

The 247 Composite and On3 Consensus both combine 247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN rankings.

247Sports — 4 star (92 rating), #55 overall, #3 TE, #2 in OK

On3 — 3 star (89 rating), #249 overall, #12 TE, #6 in OK

Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), #160 overall, #5 TE, #3 in OK

ESPN — 4 star (82 rating), #107 overall, #3 TE, #2 in OK

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (92 rating)

The current 2024 Composite rankings has 7 tight ends inside the top 100 overall rankings. Right now, the 2025 class has a pair of 5-star tight ends and no one else inside the top 100.

Cohort

Roberts was offered by Notre Dame back on March 17th and visited campus about a month later. He’s carrying a pretty impressive offer list that includes Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson, Florida State, Texas A&M, Oregon, Michigan, Miami, TCU, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, and several more.

Highlights

With the no. 9 jersey I am picking up a lot of Kyle Rudolph vibes. Roberts definitely looks the part as a modern tight end who is comfortable in the slot or even out wide making plays in the passing game. He shows good speed and looks really fluid being able to run routes. His overall size for a sophomore is good and he shows promise getting after it as a blocker.

Listed at 230 pounds by 247 and 225 by On3, Roberts has a bit of a lean frame right now and is realistically a bit lighter than than reported. With long arms, he’ll have the chance to fill out and develop physically to the point where he should settle in at the 245 to 250 pound range once he’s in a college strength program. I would expect a much more physically imposing tight end by the time he arrives at Notre Dame, too.

Impact

Averaging over 21 yards per reception, against any form of competition, is going to turn some heads as a tight end. Roberts has that type of athleticism and length that should keep him as a high 4-star throughout the 2025 cycle and among the top players at his position.

The 2023 and 2024 classes I would say Notre Dame brought in more traditional-type tight ends and Roberts is poised to be more of that modern pass-catcher with more explosiveness. He’s not quite as tall or twitchy as Eli Raridon from Notre Dame’s 2022 class but I view Roberts in that same mold of playmaking pass catcher.

Welcome to the Irish family, Nate!