Notre Dame 99-to-0: No. 86 Cooper Flanagan, incoming freshman tight end, four-star recruit

Listed measurements: 6-foot-6, 240 pounds 2023-24 year, eligibility: An incoming freshman, Flanagan has all four seasons of eligibility remaining. Depth Chart: Notre Dame stockpiles tight ends, meaning Flanagan will be on the scout team this entire fall, with four names ahead of him on the depth chart. Even if injuries plague the Irish tight ends again, two would need to be out for the season for Flanagan to sniff any version of genuine playing time. Recruiting: A consensus four-star prospect and the No. 17 tight end in the class, per rivals.com, Flanagan did not pay attention to offers from Alabama, LSU or Michigan after he committed to the Irish 15 months before he could sign his National Letter of Intent. From an Oakland suburb, he also spurned Cal, Utah and Oregon.

QUOTES Northern California has plenty of football talent but also widespread competitive levels, sometimes making evaluations difficult. Notre Dame sought the opinions of known Bay Area sources to confirm its thoughts of Flanagan. (He comes from the same high school that produced Isaiah Foskey; the Irish have contacts in the area with proven track records.)

“Cooper Flanagan is the best player in the Bay Area,” then-Irish offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said in December when Flanagan signed his NLI. “That was the consensus from the people we know and trust out there. This isn’t a hybrid receiver. Exactly what he does translates to what he’ll be asked to do here at Notre Dame.”

What will he be asked to do in South Bend? Rees’s departure for Alabama should hardly change that answer, particularly not after tight ends coach Gerad Parker was promoted to offensive coordinator.

“He’s not a wideout body split out the whole time,” Rees said. “His