BLOOMINGTON — The Tennessee Titans drafted Indiana football center Pat Coogan with the No. 194th pick in the sixth round of the 2026 NFL Draft on Saturday afternoon.
Coogan realized all his collegiate ambitions, from fulfilling his lifelong dream of playing for Notre Dame, to winning a national title. The latter occurred after an emotional exit from the Fighting Irish.
Once Coogan became available in the portal, IU coach Curt Cignetti dropped everything — he made an unexpected trip to the Chicagoland area along Bob Bostad — to persuade the offensive lineman to come to Bloomington. The pairing turned out to be the final piece of the puzzle for a Hoosiers team in need of Coogan’s toughness.
He’s is the first IU offensive lineman drafted since Green Bay selected Simon Stepaniak in the sixth round of the 2020 draft.
Dubbed the “heart and soul” of the offense, Coogan was often the last voice players heard before they walked out onto the field each week. The offensive coaches allowed his fiery pregame speeches to set the tone, and his inspirational words carried weight.
"Coogs is just the voice of our offense, man,” Indiana football tight end Riley Nowakowski said. “Without him, it doesn't go.”
On the field, Coogan had just as much of an impact. His big-game experience transformed an IU offensive line that struggled in high pressure situations the year before. During IU’s postseason run, Coogan became the first offensive lineman since 1944 (USC’s Norm Verry) to win an MVP award in the Rose Bowl.
Coogan received an invite to the NFL combine, but did all his testing at IU’s Pro Day. He posted a 5.19-second 40-yard dash, 29-inch vertical jump, 8-foot, 11-inch broad jump and 4.93-second shuttle-run. He had a 6.80 Relative Athletic Score, a metric that evaluates NFL prospects by comparing their athletic ability to historical data for their specific position. The score ranked 236 out of 735 centers tested going back to 1987.
Coogan played the second-most snaps (1,027) for IU in 2025, his third-straight season with 750-plus snaps. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the ninth-ranked overall center (78.0) in 2025. He didn’t give up a sack while allowing just 10 quarterback pressures on 483 pass-blocking snaps.
While Pat Coogan isn't necessarily a physically dominant force in the trenches, he makes up for any holes in his game with his gritty play style. The interior lineman plays through the whistle on every rep. Coogan proved to be an inspirational presence in the locker room during his stints at Notre Dame and Indiana. It wasn’t an accident that the Hoosiers became a much tougher team after Coogan arrived in the lead up to the 2025 season. His high-level experience (42 career starts, seven in the postseason) will impress NFL teams as well. Coogan ranked No. 157 in USA Today’s top 200 draft prospects.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pat Coogan taken in sixth round of NFL Draft; what the Tennessee Titans are getting