Notre Dame football loses out on a dynamic pass catcher to a Big Ten program – Potential recruiting shift on the horizon
Where should Notre Dame turn now after losing out on talented 2027 tight end recruit Cooper Terwilliger?
Notre Dame football has been riding a lot of positive momentum so far this offseason for the 2027 recruiting class. Like any other team, head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish aren’t going to bat .1000, and there will be some misses, which we saw on Monday.
2027 Pierre (S.D.) TF Riggs tight end Cooper Terwilliger opted to commit to the Penn State Nittany Lions this week, which wasn’t a massive surprise to folks who follow recruiting closely. Terwilliger did, however, take a visit to South Bend a couple of weekends ago. Following that trip, some prominent analysts in the industry proclaimed Notre Dame to be a dark horse program for the talented tight end, but that didn’t matter in the end.
While Notre Dame was never the frontrunner for Terwilliger, he was certainly a player that they liked in the 2027 recruiting class. They had turned up the heat recently with their tight end board getting smaller. The Irish will now even get more specific with their pursuit of talented tight ends, which means everyone should continue keeping a close eye on Jaxon Dollar and Malik Howard.
Depending on how things work out with those two, it wouldn’t be overly surprising to see the Irish staff expand the board at some point. They found Preston Fryzel later in the process in the 2026 class, so they have had some success with finding those underrated recruits. The next several weeks will be interesting in terms of evaluating where things stand.
Cooper Terwilliger’s recruiting background
Terwilliger is considered to be a four-star player by each of the major recruiting platforms. On the 247 Sports Composite ranking, the South Dakota native currently sits as the No. 258 overall player, the No. 12 tight end, and the No. 1 player from the state of South Dakota in the 2027 recruiting class. Those rankings have continued to rise more and more as people have gotten eyes on Terwilliger this offseason.
As his recruiting rankings continue to rise, Terwilliger’s offer list is already bordering on elite status. Some of the top programs that have offered him so far include the Fighting Irish, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Florida State, Auburn, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana, Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, Kansas State, Kansas, Wisconsin, UNC, Purdue, UCF, and Stanford, among several others.
As a junior, Terwilliger put together a tremendous season for TF Riggs. The 6-5, 230-pound pass catcher managed to haul in 38 receptions for 549 yards and four touchdowns. That is an average of 14.4 yards per reception, which demonstrates his big-play ability from the tight end position. The overall talent for Terwilliger is substantial, and a lot of really impressive programs are taking notice.