How Notre Dame TE Cooper Flanagan used an offseason of opportunity to refine his game

Before Cooper Flanagan enrolled at Notre Dame in January 2023, the coveted tight end recruit came from one of Northern California’s top high school football programs. 

As the Concord (Calif) De La Salle product quickly discovered, that does not automatically make you game-ready. Not for a perennial college football power like the Fighting Irish. Tack on a new offensive coordinator and position coach for your second season, and it is back to square one. Not completely, but enough to determine the Mike Denbrock addition came with a learning curve. 

That is how Flanagan began the 2024 offseason. 

Just before it, Flanagan’s position coach, offensive coordinator Gerad Parker, departed the program. Parker accepted an offer to become the head coach at Troy. Then, coach Marcus Freeman tapped Denbrock, who orchestrated the nation’s top offense at LSU in 2023, to take over for the Irish. 

Then came Flanagan’s realization that he had to familiarize himself with a new scheme and coaching style. The intricacies are much more advanced than what he has been accustomed to. At least, dating back to his days as a preps prospect. 

With a player like Flanagan available in high school ranks, it hardly took a detailed scouting report from the De La Salle coaching staff to help him overcome his opponents. The message was simple. The execution is even easier. It hardly comes together that quickly in college. 

“Just the little details that I think in high school, you kind of don’t really like … like at De La Salle, they just tell you to go run the guy over,” Flanagan told reporters last Thursday. “There’s a lot more technicality to it.” 

Notre Dame TE Cooper Flanagan takes advantage of offseason opportunities

With a full slate of spring practices and several more from the summer in the books, Flanagan has refined how Denbrock utilizes the tight end position. So far, he has made identifiable progress. Flanagan has a decimated depth chart to thank for that.

When Flanagan was a true freshman in 2023, Kevin Bauman’s preseason torn ACL and Mitchell Evans suffering a comparable injury in Week 9 gave him an opportunity few Irish freshmen see. Flanagan played in all 13 games and logged 119 snaps on offense. In doing so, he burned right through his redshirt. Flanagan even caught his first career touchdown late in a blowout victory against Pittsburgh. That was the same game in which the Irish lost Evans. 

His workload became heavier in the spring. With Bauman and Evans rehabbing their injuries — and Notre Dame being cautious with junior tight end Eli Raridon, who has two previous ACL tears — Flanagan had an abundance of reps. But performing them correctly took time. 

Despite this being just year No. 2 in the program and his first one in the offense, that experience has helped him grasp an offense that might have otherwise been more challenging.

“I had put myself in a great position in spring to get a lot of reps and do all that and get comfortable with it,” Flanagan said. “And then over the offseason, just like dialing in on some stuff that maybe I wasn’t sure on, making sure I was comfortable with everything.”

In addition to getting the hang of Denbrock’s offense, Flanagan said he focused on increasing his speed and flexibility in the offseason. Those things work together to help him run faster, crisp routes. Something as simple as ensuring his hips are open helps him get in and out of breaks quickly. 

“I feel way more confident, in and out of breaks and just route running in general,” he said. 

But a confident Flanagan does not necessarily mean a more comfortable one. In his eyes, comfort flirts with complacency, and he would like to stray far from that.

With veterans like Evans, Batman and Raridon operating at full strength, Flanagan could see fewer snaps this season. Then, there is the possibility that Denbrock uses fewer multiple tight end sets. It will force Flanagan to become more competitive than complacent. And if he continues stacking strong practices together, Denbrock’s only choice might be to tap into Flanagan’s potential.

“I think totally comfortable, I don’t know, I just don’t know if that’s totally possible,” he said. “There’s always something to improve on. Obviously I’m very comfortable with a lot of run plays, obviously a lot of pass plays. But like you’re never really totally comfortable with anything.” 

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