2025 WR Jalen Cooper Goes In-Depth On Notre Dame Official
For more than a month, Notre Dame had been excited about getting Jalen Cooper to campus for a visit so the Irish could show the 2025 Texas receiver exactly what they can offer.
Now, Cooper will leave South Bend on Monday morning excited.
“I thought the visit was good,” Cooper told Irish Sports Daily on Sunday night. “The tradition they have here, the caring for the players, the coaches. It was great overall.
“Coach Freeman's a great guy, the whole staff here is good. It was a great atmosphere at the game; 80,000 people screaming. It was just great to see.”
The Cibolo Steele High School standout has been committed to SMU since the summer, but one of the reasons he wanted to take the trip to South Bend was to experience that game atmosphere as well as the traditions at Notre Dame.
“It was crazy seeing all that,” he said. “It definitely checked the box.
“The tradition was crazy. I saw stuff around the campus that I've never seen before and also touching the wall before they go out, that was crazy. You see it in the movie, 'Rudy,' you see it all before the games and just seeing that was surreal.”
The 6-foot-2, 170-pounder represents a crucial recruit for the Irish’s 2025 recruiting class and people within the program made that clear over the weekend.
“They did express it to me,” he said. “They just came up to me and told me straight-up that think I'll be a great fit here. They want me here.
“Even besides the coaches, commits who were there were telling me how it's a great fit and they want me to be a part of a great team.”
For Cooper, knowing that he is wanted and needed is important as is the way that was expressed.
“Definitely,” he said. “They could have talked to me here and there because they had to, but it definitely changes it.”
The off-the-field opportunities at Notre Dame also made a major impression.
“I think they have a 98-percent graduation rate,” he said. “I talked to one of the professors, seeing how he cares for his students. I wasn't even one of his students,but you could tell the care and how they want you to be great on and off the field.”
Cooper doesn’t plan on letting this process drag out and the Irish appear to have some momentum heading into the final stretch.
“My feelings are great. It's a crazy place to be at, being looked at by and being offered by this team.
“I'll decide in a week and go from there.”
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