Top 2026 OL Target Tyler Merrill Embraces Notre Dame Return

After multiple trips to South Bend over the last year, Tyler Merrill‍ returned for Notre Dame’s Grill And Chill last Thursday and was once again impressed.

“It was great,” the 2026 Pennsylvania offensive lineman told Irish Sports Daily. “I had an awesome time.

“It was a lot more fun stuff. It wasn't too much recruiting or anything like that. We got to see the new building that's being built for the football team and we got to play a bunch of games...no prizes unfortunately.”

Merrill laughed about the lack of prizes, since his team, which consisted of himself, 2026 quarterback commit Noah Grubbs, 2026 tight end Gavin Mueller, 2026 offensive lineman Chancellor Barclay and 2025 tight end commit James Flanigan, won the event.

“But we still had a great time and our team came out on top, so it was a good time,” he said.

Merrill said he spoke with Grubbs and Barclay quite a bit throughout the event.

Even though most of the visit wasn’t centered around football, it was still informative for the Cumberland Valley High School standout.

“You get to see the non-football side of wherever you're going and see how coaches will treat their players outside of just coaching them up and going over film and whatnot,” he said. “It shows that the coaches were players or have been players at heart too. 

“It's a very different experience than just checking out spring practice or watching a game. You get to see the non-football side of things, which I feel like is really important because you'll be doing football a lot, but it won't be your only thing going on there at the university. So, it was good to see all that and bond with some of the coaches who I haven't talked to before and talk to some recruits.”

In addition to the other recruits, Merrill had the chance to spend time getting to know some coaches he hadn’t spent as much time with before, like quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli and receivers coach Mike Brown. He also noted the return of Caleb Davis as Director of Recruiting. 

“I saw that Caleb's back, so that was awesome to see,” he said. 

And of course he spent time with Irish General Manager Chad Bowden as well as offensive line coach Joe Rudolph.

Even without an emphasis on football, Rudolph made sure to reemphasize how badly Merrill is wanted in South Bend.

“Coach Rudolph told me that he had the highest level of confidence going into offering me,” Merrill recounted. “He said that I really fit the type of person he wants. He said he remembers writing my name down on his board as the first name that he really wanted to give the opportunity to play there because he feels I could fit in so well with the guys there in that o-line room, which was awesome to hear. 

“Coach Freeman emphasized that too last time I was there, just really fitting into the culture. They're looking for guys like me to really, really kick it in and say, 'Hey, you guys fit this program. We really think you'd be a great fit and make an impact here.'”

The 6-foot-6, 315-pounder, who also has offers from schools like Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Georgia and Alabama among several others, stopped at Michigan on Sunday before heading back to Pennsylvania.

He isn’t sure what’s next for him and Notre Dame or if he’ll be back for a game this fall.

“I think just taking it how I have been taking it,” he said. “Game days are a little bit more difficult to schedule because I have five people with me and traveling eight hours is pretty hard on a Saturday morning. We'll see what I can do as far as getting back there. But I definitely do want to be back and hopefully I can either make a game this fall or be back in June.”

Merrill said whether or not he gets back in the fall will not be an indication of his interest in the Irish.

“Game days, I feel like it's more of a family experience,” he said. “I feel like the spring practices and the junior days are a little bit more oriented toward the recruit and that's normally when I just take one parent with me so I can focus more on if this place fits me versus my family.”

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