When Notre Dame offered Chicagoland offensive lineman Pat Coogan on March 26, it created a huge shift in his recruitment.
Michigan was a big contender in his recruitment and enjoyed a recent visit to Ann Arbor. He visited Stanford earlier in the month and the Cardinal were a big contender for his commitment. Duke, another high academic institution, was making its mark on Coogan as well.
But everything changed when Coogan added the Irish to his list, and Notre Dame, the school he grew up watching, jumped to the top of his list.
“Being from the Chicagoland area, there’s a big Notre Dame pull,” Coogan said. “My family has always been a Notre Dame family. On any given Saturday, we’ll turn on the Notre Dame game instead of any other team and watch them.”
Coogan already held more than 20 scholarship offers before Notre Dame joined the race for him, but he became a national, household name after it occurred. Four days after the Irish offered, he landed an offer from Ohio State. Two days later, Oklahoma threw its hat into the ring as well.
About an offer about the Sooners offered, Coogan picked up good news from the defending national champs, LSU. And to cap off his offer run, Texas A&M extended him a scholarship April 3.
Coogan hoped to take official visits and see some of these programs before making a decision. The dead period enacted by the NCAA due to COVID-19 has shut down the hope of making any recruiting visits until at least May 31.
Did that have an impact on Coogan's decision? Quite possibly. He decided to push his timeline way up in making a decision and picked the Fighting Irish.
In the end, even if Coogan would’ve been able to take those other visits, it was still likely that the Notre Dame would've won the recruitment with his love of Brian Kelly’s program.
Notre Dame has an elite offensive tackle commit in Blake Fisher from Avon (Ind.) High, and in Coogan, the Fighting Irish have a big-time prospect who has the ability to play any spot on the offensive line but is seen as an interior player.
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