2026 OL Sullivan Garvin Blown Away By Notre Dame Experience, Offer

A pair of visits to Notre Dame in the spring and summer made quite the impression on Sullivan Garvin‍.

“There's just something about the University itself,” the 2026 Michigan offensive lineman told Irish Sports Daily. “When I went there for the first time for spring practice, it felt like a family. Everyone cares about each other, wants the best for each other. 

“It's a special place without a doubt.”

He was able to get a taste of just how special when he returned for the Irish’s home game against Louisville on Saturday.

“It was my first time ever seeing an actual Notre Dame game,” the Allegan High School standout said. “The atmosphere was amazing. On those big third downs, it's so loud. In the fourth quarter when it got close, it was so loud. It was special. Then after the game when they won, they sung that song, which that was really cool. The atmosphere was amazing.”

Following Notre Dame’s 31-24 win over the Cardinals, Garvin and the other recruits went into the locker room to hear head coach Marcus Freeman address the team. Afterward, general manager Chad Bowden ushered the 6-foot-5, 295-pounder over to offensive line coach Joe Rudolph’s group. 

“He brought me over to Coach Rudolph where he was talking to all the linemen,” Garvin explained. “I let them finish and then Coach Rudolph had the lineman introduce themselves to me. I started talking to them. I started talking to Noah Grubbs, their 26 quarterback commit for a little bit. 

“Then Coach Rudolph just came up behind me, talked to me, he asked 'What'd you think?' I told him that it's a very special place and that I loved it. And he asked if I'd want to be a part of it. I said, 'Without a doubt.' He said, 'Well, you have a full-ride offer from the University of Notre Dame.' I thanked him a lot and really appreciate the opportunity.”

Garvin already had offers from schools like Indiana, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Toledo among others, but was struck by the Irish offer.

“It's all processing still,” he acknowledged.

He was impressed with the Irish’s offensive line on and off the field on Saturday.

“I would say they dominated all night,” he said. “I think only one sack happened, but it was when he was rolling out, so I don't really count. They were doing their job all night. “Then after, they're all really nice guys. I was talking to them in the locker room. They asked me what I saw. They were all really nice guys, easy to talk to for sure.”

The current lineman told Garvin he’d fit in well with them.

“They have an offensive tackle named Sully (Absher) as well,” said Garvin. “He comes up to me, he goes, 'Another Sully?!? Let's go!!!' So that was cool.”

Garvin was still in awe by the experience on Saturday night.

“You could probably tell by my Twitter post that they're one of my favorite schools, but we're just going to process everything and take our time,” he said. 

“I'm definitely going to take some time to process everything and continue building relationships and we'll see where it goes from there.”