2026 TE PJ MacFarlane Talks "Awesome" Notre Dame Trip

Despite having cheered for Notre Dame from afar for years, PJ MacFarlane‍ had never been to a game in South Bend until Saturday.

“That was my first one,” the 2026 Ohio tight end told Irish Sports Daily afterward. “I was pleasantly surprised. It was good.It was a great atmosphere. I had a lot of fun.

“It was awesome. I liked the student section and all the chants and stuff they were doing. The cheerleaders and the Leprechaun, it was pretty awesome.”

The Lakota East standout currently has offers from Michigan State, Indiana, Kentucky, Miami-Ohio and Toledo.

MacFarlane, who has camped at Notre Dame in the past, enjoyed the visit from start to finish.

“We got there and I got to see all the facilities again,” he said. “They pretty great and the coaches were really nice. I got to talk to Coach (Marcus) Freeman and the tight ends coach, (Coach Mike Denbrock). That was pretty awesome. It was fun to watch that game. It was a good time.”

Denbrock let the 6-foot-5, 208-pound MacFarlane know he was happy to see him.

“He was a great guy,” MacFarlane said of Denbrock. “Obviously, he knows a lot and he's really nice. I liked him a lot.”

MacFarlane enjoyed his chat with Freeman.

“We talked a little bit about where I live basically,” he explained. “He used to live over in West Chester, right by us. We were talking a little bit about people over there. He said he was glad I got to come up and see a game.”

He has some other games coming up next.

“I'm going to the Miami-UC game next weekend and the weekend after that I'm going to Kentucky and then I've got some other ones lined up after that,” he said.

But he’s really hoping to return to South Bend in the future.

“I'm hoping to get invited for maybe a spring practice or something like that to try to build a better relationship with these coaches. We'll see what happens from there.”

Antigua Navy/Steel Notre Dame Fighting Irish Spark Polo