He was working on moving the man across from him in a national championship game less than two weeks ago. Now he’ll be working on moving to Lincoln.

Offensive lineman Rocco Spindler has committed to Nebraska football for his senior season, giving Donovan Raiola’s room a veteran and rather large addition to the O-line’s interior.

“It wasn’t about the money when I entered the portal, I wanted to stay at Notre Dame. However, the stars were no longer aligning and I did all that I could do and set out to do. Graduate with almost two degrees and championships, I’ll come back and finish that master’s,” Spindler told 247Sports National Analyst Tom Loy on Sunday morning. “I wanted to be valued for what I displayed on the field and continued to get developed to get to the next level and be apart of another great historic culture and help them win and meet their goals. I found that at Nebraska and I’m excited about the future in Lincoln.”

He’s large in the form of 6-3, 325 pounds and Spindler will join the program in time to participate in spring ball.

He becomes the second O-line addition for the Huskers in this class, joining tackle Elijah Pritchett, who started last season at Alabama. 

The transfer from Notre Dame has started in 23 games and played 1,325 snaps for the Irish. He had a strong 2024 and accumulated 747 snaps. That was attached to a solid PFF grade for the season of 70.5 while working at right guard.

Originally from Clarkston, Mich., and the son of former Pitt standout and nine-year NFL defensive lineman Marc Spindler, he started 13 games for the Fighting Irish in 2024. He announced he was entering the portal last week in the days after the Irish fell short 34-23 to Ohio State in the national championship game.

Spindler spent the past week getting an in-person look at his top options. He had visited Indiana, Nebraska, then Pitt and Virginia, with Michigan another school heavily interested in Spindler. He never visited the Wolverines and his Tuesday appearance in Nebraska helped pave the way for this decision.

He hits another need openly talked about by Husker coaches last month.

“We need to bring some guys in,” offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen said in December of the O-line.

“Anytime you lose two super seniors really, you’re going to look to address it,” said Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule. “Offensive line is a unique position in that the true historical thing is you bring a kid in, you redshirt him, it’s the best thing for him. Year 2 you’re hoping that they’re in the rotation and Year 3 if they’re a really good player they’re starting. So it’s best to probably recruit, develop and grow your own guys at that position.”

And certainly it helps to have those fourth- or fifth-year guys who have been in their share of big games as is the case with Spindler.

Most of the possible portal O-line addition talk has been about tackles, but this one makes plenty of sense. Justin Evans and Henry Lutovsky are returning starters at the guard spots, but Evans has shown the flexibility to possibly be a candidate at center as NU replaces Ben Scott there. Matt Rhule mentioned on Saturday that others, like Sam Sledge and Jason Maciejczak, could be center options along with Evans.

Spindler is another addition who was a highly rated recruit out of high school – No. 95 in the final 2021 rankings by 247Sports. He fought through some adversity during his time in South Bend. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in Notre Dame’s 31-23 loss to Clemson on Nov. 4, 2023, yet worked his way back to taking on reps in spring ball.

Spindler stressed team in interviews with media covering Notre Dame.

“I feel like just being an offensive lineman, you’re definitely working as a unit, and you want to see other people succeed,” the lineman told our Notre Dame site in November. “I feel like my role this year was to be a leader. And when my role was called upon, I definitely acted upon that.”