Notre Dame’s tight end room has the kind of talent that keeps the “Tight End U” label alive, but the real question heading into 2026 is simple: who is actually ready to produce?
Marcus Freeman likes the shape of the group, even if the résumé is still thin. The Irish are staring at the challenge of replacing the starting tight end for a second straight season, and this time they have to do it with a unit that has very little proven production attached to it.
The biggest reason for optimism is Cooper Flanagan. He was supposed to be a major piece last season, but an injury suffered late in 2024 kept him from getting back in 2025. Freeman made it clear how important his return is.
"It's great to have Coop back, we needed Coop back," head coach Marcus Freeman said of his senior tight end. "He brings an element.
There's an element in the pass game, but he brings an edge, he brings a toughness. He brings a physicality that we need in that room."
Flanagan’s value has always shown up in the dirty work. He played more than 420 snaps across his first two seasons at Notre Dame, and that workload came largely because of what he brought as a run blocker. One of the clearest examples came on Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard touchdown run against Indiana in the College Football Playoff, when Flanagan flattened the Indiana safety and helped carve out the lane.
Freeman said Flanagan will be a major part of the rotation, but the rest of the room still needs answers. James Flanigan, Ty Washington and Jack Larsen are all in the mix, and Freeman said the staff needs to see one of them separate.
"Somebody's got to emerge now .... we've got to see somebody emerge," Freeman said, while listing James Flanigan, Ty Washington and Jack Larsen as players battling to get into the mix. "We're not going to be 13 personnel, maybe in the goal line, but how do we continue to develop these guys and see who's the most consistent at what we're going to need them to do.
"I love the depth in the room, but we've got to figure out who we can rely on consistently," concluded the Irish head coach.
The run game should get a lift with Flanagan back and James Flanigan in the room as a redshirt freshman with real talent. The passing game, though, is where the uncertainty hangs. Notre Dame’s tight ends have combined for just 13 career catches in Irish uniforms.
That makes the arrival of Ian Premer worth watching closely. The Kansas native came in this summer as a five-star recruit, and Freeman said the freshman has already stood out to coaches and teammates.
"He looks like, he looks ready," Freeman said of the first-year tight end. "I haven't seen him with pads on, I ain't seen him put a his face [into a defender], but he's smart, he looks ready.
He's going to have to continue to grow into this body that he has and be able to function with it, but it'll be interesting to see him at fall camp. But I like what I've seen so far."
Notre Dame has the talent in the room. Fall camp will be about turning that into something more concrete.
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