Notre Dame Tight End Cooper Flanagan Is Out For The Season

The injury bug continues to bite Notre Dame as the Irish suffered another season-ending injury in the Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia. Sophomore tight end Cooper Flanagan was injured in the game and will be out for the remainder of the College Football Playoff after injuring his foot in the game.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman made his announcement on Saturday morning while noting everyone else that went down in the game should be good to go. While that's good news for running back Jeremiyah Love and defensive tackle Howard Cross III, it's another setback for Flanagan, who also missed time early in the season.

Flanagan has caught just four passes for 55 yards and two touchdowns, so he won't be missed all that much in the pass game. But what Flanagan brought to the offense was a very strong blocking presence, which was evidence on Love's 98-yard touchdown run in the first round playoff win over Indiana. Against a Penn State team with talented edge players the loss of Flanagan is crucial, and the Notre Dame staff will need to find some answers.

With Flanagan out there is now more pressure on starting tight end Mitchell Evans and key rotation tight end Eli Raridon to step up their production in the run game. Evans has been up-and-down in the run game, but he'll need to be at his best against the Nittany Lions. The same is true for Raridon, who was a strong blocker early in his career but has also been a bit inconsistent in the run game as well.

Both Evans and Flanagan have blocking talent and have thrived in this part of the game in the past, and both will need to raise their level of play in the run game against the Nittany Lions. The Irish will need strong edge play in the run game if they are going to thrive running the football against the Nittany Lions.