Notre Dame football showed the importance of talent and depth on the offensive line in the 2024 season.

Eight offensive linemen started games for the Irish throughout the season as the team absorbed injuries and kept producing on the way to a loss in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

The Irish, led by offensive line coach Joe Rudolph, are in the process of continuing to build that depth in the 2026 class. Tyler Merrill, a Rivals100 prospect from Pennsylvania, became the third offensive linemen to commit to Notre Dame’s 2026 class. He announced Thursday the decision he made following Saturday’s junior day visit to Notre Dame.

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The 6-foot-5, 305-pound product of Mechanicsburg (Pa.) Cumberland Valley committed to Notre Dame ahead of fellow finalists Alabama, Clemson, Penn State and Wisconsin. Merrill joined four-star offensive linemen Sullivan Garvin and Ben Nichols in Notre Dame’s 2026 class. Both were on campus Saturday with Merrill.

Merrill is the highest ranked of Notre Dame’s offensive line trio. Rivals rates Merrill as a four-star prospect and slates him as the No. 3 offensive guard and No. 84 overall in the 2026 class.

“Tyler is a really good player,” said Rivals rankings director Adam Friedman. “I like him as an interior offensive lineman, 6-3 to 6-5, somewhere in there, plus over 300 pounds right now, but not a lot of bad weight on his frame. Great measurables when you think about arm length, wingspan, and combine that with his impressive agility at that size, and you’re looking at a player with a really strong starting point. When you think about how a player is going to develop over the next two-and-a-half to three years before he is a major contributor on the Notre Dame offensive line.

“In terms of his playing style, I really like where he’s at technically right now. Fires off the ball, stays low, uses his hands well, engages with the defensive lineman really quickly when it’s a running play, drives his feet on contact and can really create a lot of big running lanes for his backs. As a pass blocker, it’s something that he’s going to have to get used to at the college level, and hopefully we see him more on the offseason circuit, so he gets familiar with elite pass rushers, especially on the interior of the defensive line and getting used to the power that he’s going to be facing at the next level. He doesn’t play a high level of competition during the season, so getting some experience with players like that is going to be invaluable for him as he moves on in his career.

“I really like the trajectory that he’s on. He has a nasty streak to him on the field. I like the way that he plays there. Obviously, an intelligent guy, certainly well-spoken and all of that, but he kind of flips a switch when the ball is snapped. That’s what you want to see out of an offensive lineman.”

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Merrill became the seventh verbal commitment to Notre Dame’s 2026 class. His addition boosted Notre Dame to fifth overall in the Rivals team rankings for the 2026 class. The Irish were previously ninth. The four teams ahead of Notre Dame all have at least one more commitment than the Irish: No. 1 Oregon (10 commits), No. 2 Texas A&M (10), No. 3 USC (8) and No. 4 Penn State (9).

Notre Dame projects all three of its current offensive line commitments in the 2026 class as interior linemen despite Rivals projecting Garvin and Nichols as tackles. The 6-5, 320-pound Nichols is ranked by Rivals as the No. 27 offensive tackle and No. 243 overall. The 6-5, 301-pound Garvin is ranked as the No. 39 offensive tackle.

The Irish wanted to stack interior offensive linemen in the 2026 class after signing a 2025 class that was heavy at offensive tackle. The Irish signed three offensive tackles — five-star recruit Will Black and four-star recruits Owen Strebig and Matty Augustine — and center Cameron Herron, a three-star recruit.

Now the Irish can focus on bringing in at least one offensive tackle to wrap up the offensive line class. The Irish have been recruiting four-star offensive tackles Ekene Ogboko (No. 13 OT, per Rivals) and Gregory Patrick (No. 23) for a long time. They offered four-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo (No. 8) and three-star offensive tackle Evan Goodwin (No. 49) in the last week. Goodwin was on Notre Dame’s campus for junior day last weekend. Any of those would be welcomed additions to a unit that wants to be built on quality and quantity.

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