2025 OL Matty Augustine Talks "Amazing" Notre Dame Return

By Christian McCollum

September 28, 2023

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Matty Augustine‍ had seen plenty of Notre Dame during multiple visits to South Bend over the last year, but even the 2025 Connecticut offensive lineman was struck by what he saw there last weekend.

“It was amazing,” Augustine told Irish Sports Daily. “It was something I haven't seen before, so it was really special.

“That atmosphere was honestly truly amazing. It was a night game kickoff at 7:30 and the Green Out too. It was just absurd. I mean, I don't know how else to put it other than it was absurd.”

The Brunswick School standout and his teammate, 2025 safety Ethan Long, arrived on campus earlier than most of the other visitors.

“All the recruiting stuff started at 3:45, but our flight got in early,” Augustine explained. “We were there at 11 o'clock.

“We have a bunch of family friends who went to Notre Dame, so we got there early and just walked from tailgate to tailgate. It seemed like all the tailgates never ended. It was like seven or eight hours before the game and it seemed like everyone was almost already there, so it was special to see”

Once the recruiting events started, the 6-foot-7, 290-pounder had the opportunity to reconnect with another one of the Irish’s top offensive line targets in the Class of 2025.

“Me and Owen Strebig‍ have kind of built that relationship through these recruiting events,” said Augustine. “He was out there again, so being able to talk to him in person again, just continue building that friendship is really good. Maybe we'll be playing together one day, maybe we'll be playing against each other.

“Just building that friendship is really special, but also getting to talk to the other commits and recruits, some new commitsI haven't talked to before, like Deuce (Knight) and some of the '24 commits. Just getting to build that relationship again, that's really special.”

The fact that Notre Dame already has a commitment in the 2025 class from one of the top quarterbacks in the country is something Augustine and other recruits are aware of.

“It's cool to see,” Augustine said. “It's cool to see Notre Dame got a recruit like that a week before the game. Knowing you could be blocking for such a highly-talented quarterback like that one day, it's just cool to know.”

Knight has already gone from recruit to recruiter.

“He's not pressuring us at all,” Augustine said. “He's just checking in. He texted me (Monday), just checking in, seeing how the game was for us and just trying to build that relationship.”

The Greenwich, Conn., native also appreciated the opportunity to visit with Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph again.

“That was the first time my whole family was out there together,” Augustine explained. “Some of them haven't been out there, and so we talked to Rudolph and Freeman before the game, continuing to build that relationship.

“They're also building that relationship with my family. My family is really thankful for that. They know wherever I go, they want to have a strong connection with the coaches where they're sending me to. So it means a lot to my family.”

Seeing the Irish in person struck Augustine as well.

“Getting to see them in person, it was crazy,” he said. “The o-line played really well. They were able to pass, run the ball all night. Obviously Ohio State's defense played really well. It was a low-scoring game, but both offenses played really well. Both teams played really well and seeing both o-lines play in person for the first time, it was special to see.”

Augustine visited Wisconsin at the beginning of the season. The only remaining visit this fall is to Michigan for the Ohio State game at the end of the season.

“Obviously, it'd be cool to go out and see Ohio State play at Ohio State, but I can't get out there with our game schedule,” he said.”Other than that, I've kind of hit all the stops I wanted to hit. I'll probably be making a lot more stops during the spring for spring practices.”

Right now, he doesn’t anticipate making a decision before then.

“It would probably be later in the spring. We'll see, though. I'm shooting for spring, but it may come earlier.”