Four-star DL Richie Flanigan commits to Notre Dame football

Despite being an atypical Notre Dame football legacy prospect, four-star Richie Flanigan made a predictable decision in his recruitment Thursday.

Flanigan, the brother of current Fighting Irish freshman tight end James Flanigan, announced his verbal commitment to Notre Dame. The Green Bay (Wis.) Notre Dame de la Baie Academy junior made his declaration following his unofficial visit to South Bend for the Texas A&M game Sept. 13.

Flanigan has been a familiar name to the Irish football program for more than 30 years. Richie and James are the sons of former Irish defensive lineman Jim Flanigan, a four-year contributor at Notre Dame and a third-round NFL Draft pick in 1994.

Still, like his brother James two years ago, Richie made his decision independently. Their father did not nudge either of them toward South Bend.

“He didn’t really talk about his football days or anything,” Richie told Blue & Gold before Thursday’s announcement. “I knew he was in the NFL and played for Notre Dame, but he really doesn’t talk about it.”

So Richie viewed Notre Dame through his own lens. Ranked as the No. 311 overall player nationally and No. 3 prospect in Wisconsin in the 2027 class, he announced his scholarship offer from the Irish during the program’s St. Patrick’s Day-themed Pot of Gold Day recruiting event March 17.

Since then, Richie visited campus three times as an offered recruit. He also saw Wisconsin, Duke, Illinois, Northwestern and Michigan — five of the six other schools that offered him scholarships. Those visits only clarified that Notre Dame would be the pick.

“During this entire thing, I was definitely taking a good look around at every school,” he said. “Pretty much last summer, after I did all my camps, I was pretty confident that I wanted to go to Notre Dame. But I still wanted to look around. After I went to the game day for Texas A&M, I was like, ‘I don’t want to wait any longer. I for sure know I want to go to Notre Dame.’”

Richie Flanigan breaks down his Notre Dame commitment

Technically, Flanigan did wait a few days.

It wasn’t until Sunday that his conversations with the Irish coaching staff materialized. Once they did, Flanigan informed head coach Marcus Freeman, defensive line coach Al Washington and general manager Mike Martin of his intentions. The recruiting department learned of it as well.

“I called up Coach Wash and told him I wanted to commit,” Flanigan said. “He was super pumped. He was excited. … They seemed super pumped. I was talking with [recruiting staffers) Carter [Auman], Myron [Tagovailoa-Amosa] and Justice [Bathas]. All the coaches were excited for me.”

The 6-foot-3, 265-pound junior, who plays offensive and defensive line at the high school level, is equally eager to play for Notre Dame. And while he doesn’t know much about his father’s Irish playing career, he has studied others who have recently developed in the program.

“As I got to know the coaches more, I really liked their coaching style,” Flanigan said. “Also, I saw their NFL development. Last year, they had Howard Cross and Rylie Mills go to the NFL, so that’s two D-linemen right there. Then, on the offensive side of the ball, they got Billy Schrauth, who’s going to be an NFL player, and they’re like O-line-U, essentially. They have a ton of great O-linemen. … So that was another key factor for me.”

Rivals director of scouting and rankings Charles Power projects Flanigan to develop into an offensive lineman, ranking him as the No. 10 player at the position nationally. While conversations with Notre Dame about playing O-line have not been extensive, they have happened. For now, Flanigan expects to begin his career on defense.

“They are like, ‘We’re going to let you develop. Down the road, maybe if we see you playing O-line, then we’ll make you O-line or see how you develop,’” Flanigan said. “But for the most part, it’s been D-line.”

The Flanigan File

Flanigan has been a three-year varsity player for the Notre Dame Academy Tritons. Program statistics are not fully updated this year, but last season marked his breakout.

During Notre Dame’s state championship-winning season in 2024, Flanigan primarily played defensive tackle and right guard. Defensively, he recorded 35 tackles (14 solo), including 2 stops for loss and a sack. He was the only sophomore to earn a spot on the all-conference second team.

As a freshman, he tallied 4 tackles in 3 games on defense.

Now that Flanigan’s college decision is finalized, he’ll aim to make a similar impact right away for the University of Notre Dame. With or without family ties, he said he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I’ve always known it’s a great school academically,” he said. “Also, the football program is great. I knew that going into my recruitment. So it was always high up before I even had an offer from there, before I even looked at other schools.

“Just when I was at the game day for myself, and I saw what the team culture was like, and I got to know the coaches a little bit more, I knew that I didn’t want to waste any more time, and I wanted to commit.”