Cooper Flanagan spent most of last season trying to get back onto the football field.
Now, Marcus Freeman expects the senior to be the first Notre Dame tight end on it.
It's been a long road back for Flanagan, who suffered an Achilles injury during Notre Dame's 2024 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia.
He worked his way back onto the field last fall, but his return lasted only four snaps against USC before Flanagan made the difficult decision to shut things down for the remainder of the season.
A year later, the conversation surrounding Flanagan has changed considerably.
Freeman recently referred to him as an “alpha male,” a description that quickly made its way back to the senior tight end.
“I've definitely been made fun of a little bit for that, but that's definitely an honor,” Flanagan said. “I just try to carry myself a certain way.”
Asked who he considers the ultimate example of an alpha male, Flanagan didn't have to look outside the Notre Dame football building, pointing to Freeman and offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Mike Denbrock.
“Two great examples,” he said. After essentially losing an entire season, Flanagan has worked his way back to the front of a tight end room looking to replace Eli Raridon, who is now with the New England Patriots.
Freeman didn't leave much ambiguity when discussing where Flanagan currently stands.
“Coop Flanagan will be the first tight end out there,” Freeman said.
That's a significant development for a player who had established himself as a regular contributor before the injury. Flanagan played in all 13 games as a freshman in 2023, making two starts, then appeared in another 13 games with five starts in 2024, catching touchdown passes against Purdue and Virginia.
Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph, who works extensively with the Irish tight ends in the run game, has also noticed Flanagan increasingly looking like himself during Fall Camp.
“Coop’s coming over, getting over some things,” Rudolph said earlier this month. “I think he's done a great job. I'm starting to see Coop, you know what I mean, which is fun. I love that dude.”
Seeing the old Flanagan means seeing plenty of physicality.
When Notre Dame players are asked about teammates who aren't afraid to mix it up during practice, Flanagan's name regularly comes up.
He doesn't see anything particularly unusual about that.
“To me, it's just football,” Flanagan said. “It's a physical sport. I feel like I'm a pretty nice guy outside of football, but I think when you're able to put your helmet on and just go out there and rough it up with your friends, it's the best thing in the world.”
That mentality extends directly to what Flanagan believes can be one of his greatest contributions to the Irish offense.
Denbrock has talked about finding more ways to involve Flanagan and freshman James Flanigan in the passing game, but there's considerably less uncertainty about what the two can provide as blockers.
“I think me and James, we're just two naturally very good blockers,” Flanagan said. “I think we love doing it. We love putting our heads on people and trying to drive people back. But yeah, I think we both just take pride in doing it.”
For Flanagan, setting a physical edge isn't simply about winning his own assignment.
“I think part of it is just, Freeman talks about doing it for the guy next to you,” he said. “I love going out there and blocking with Guerby (Lambert), blocking with James, blocking with Will Black every day, and trying our best to displace a guy off the line of scrimmage is a pretty cool thing.”
Flanagan also sees room to become a more complete tight end.
Flanagan has also concentrated on becoming a more complete receiver, particularly with his speed and efficiency getting in and out of cuts. He's tried to learn from wide receivers coach Mike Brown while continuing to absorb what Denbrock wants from him in the passing game.
“Obviously coming off my injury, just trying to learn from the receivers, take notes from Coach Brown as much as I can, listen to Coach Denbrock and, you know, really just try to work on my speed and getting in and out of cuts, doing all those things,” Flanagan said.
He's also trying to become a more significant presence throughout the team as a whole.
“I try to be positive to everyone, and I try to have at least a little bit of a relationship with everyone on the team,” he said. “If I feel like a guy's down I'm always there, trying to cheer him up or just trying to say what's up, like how's your day going? Just things like that, trying to have a relationship with everyone.”
Flanagan's emergence doesn't mean the rest of Notre Dame's tight end rotation has been settled.
Flanigan has pushed himself into the mix quickly while Ty Washington and Jack Larsen are also competing for roles.
“James Flanigan, you would see him out there,” Freeman said. “Jack Larsen and Ty Washington are doing some good things too. All four of them will play.”
“I think there is really good competition, much like the o-line room,” Rudolph said. “I think whoever wins those jobs, now you start to form it all. Like, ‘OK, what do these guys do best?’”
For Flanagan, simply being part of that discussion represents how much has changed in a year.
