Top 2026 OL Target Tyler Merrill Eyes Notre Dame Return

The season may have ended earlier than Tyler Merrill‍ and his Cumberland Valley (Pa.) teammates would have preferred, but they’ll remember more than just the 14-7 loss to Manheim Township in the quarterfinals. 

“I'd say we definitely had a great season and definitely had some adversity and low expectations from the outside,” said Merrill, a top offensive lineman in the Class of 2026.

“Other people had low expectations of us, but we pulled through. We had a great season. I had a lot of fun. I'm really just focusing on getting myself ready for next year.”

Merrill has scholarship offers from schools like Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Texas A&M among several others.

He didn’t make a ton of visits this fall, but did get to Penn State, Clemson and Alabama for games.

“I got to go out a little bit, see some SEC for the first time, and go in my backyard a little bit and go back up to Penn State and see Clemson for the first time,” he said. 

“Unfortunately, we couldn't make a trip to Notre Dame. I was planning on it, but it wasn't in the works with my family, so we had to push that back later. I'll be attending their Junior Day coming in January.”

Merrill is looking forward to returning to South Bend after making multiple stops at Notre Dame earlier in the process.

“I've seen everything that I can see as a recruit,” he said. “Right now, I'm just trying to see more how I fit in as a person; just go in there and reconnect with some recruits. I'm sure some of the commits will be there that I know, and just reconnecting with the staff. 

“Again, I'm still evaluating schools and whatnot, but Notre Dame's definitely a top contender for me, so I'm not too worried about, 'Oh, are things going to change? Am I not going to like it anymore?' I have pretty high kudos to Notre Dame already, so yeah, I'm just going to continue to go there, build relationships, and have fun. I feel like that's the most important part is having fun while you're at.”

Merrill has remained in steady contact with the Irish, including head coach Marcus Freeman and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph.

“Every week almost, I get a text from Coach Rudolph, Coach Freeman texts me,” he said. “I'm in contact a lot with Caleb Davis and his supporting staff, so it's great. 

“They're not crazy about, 'Oh, we've got to call twice a week,' and, 'Oh, I'm going to send you 100 different text messages.' No, they're very easy going. They said, 'Look, Tyler, you're one of our top guys. We're going to continue to recruit you. We're going to respect your time as well though. We're not going to continuously calling you and bombarding you with texts and whatnot.' 

“I think they've done a great job with the way they go about it. I'm excited to get back down there in January.”

Merrill isn’t sure where else he’ll head this winter. 

“I was planning on going to Clemson as well, but the dates kind of misaligned with Notre Dame and I have to go to one or the other,” he said. “I've been to Clemson already, so I'm most likely going to go to Notre Dame that date. 

“But Clemson, I definitely want to set up another visit, if not an official visit. I'm not really sure how that's going to work yet, but Clemson's there. I've seen a lot of the SEC already, so I'm not really sure what will be in the works the next couple of months. It's kind of an on-the-go, on-the-fly thing.”

Merrill is planning to announce a Top 10 sometime soon. 

“Just to narrow those schools down and then I'm set on committing, probably after my official visits, I'm not very sure yet, but definitely sometime before the summer, just so I can lock in that spot and go into my senior year carefree and having that relationship already with the program that's going to have me,” he said.

“Definitely before that summer session starts or the fall camp starts for a lot of the colleges, it's not earlier. As I said, it's kind of on the fly. I'm still trying to rule things out with my family and juggle my regular life, so it's definitely a lot, but I'm excited.”

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