2026 OL Evan Goodwin Excited About Notre Dame Offer

Evan Goodwin‍ had been relishing a Notre Dame offer for a long time, but the 2026 Arkansas offensive lineman didn’t see it coming the way it did.

Visiting South Bend for the Irish’s Junior Day on Saturday, Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph pulled the 6-foot-7, 320-pounder into his office for a chat. The conversation was mostly small talk and some football. 

“Then, somewhere throughout the conversation he just kind of dropped the bomb on us out of nowhere,” Goodwin laughed about it afterward. “I couldn't stop smiling for a good bit. I was smiling ear to ear and then I shook his hand and gave him a big hug.”

After a good performance at the Irish’s camp last summer, Goodwin hoped he had put himself in position to land an offer then, but in the end, it was worth the wait.

“I've wanted it for a while,” the Pulaski Academy standout said. “To have an offer from Notre Dame, an academic school like that, means that not only are you a good football player, but you're also smart. You still have to meet the requirements and they wouldn't offer a kid who couldn't meet the requirements. So it kind of just proves to myself that I'm smart and can play football.”

The day was filled with meetings and fun. 

“When we got there, we had a challenge in the weight room,” Goodwin explained. “It was kind of fun. We had to eat a fruit-rollup, sprint, chug a bottle of water, spin around a foam roller five times, and then throw a ball at a foam roller. That was a little odd thing to start off the morning with, but it was kind of fun.”

Afterward, the visitors had a campus tour along with lunch and staff meetings before dinner and some more light competition.

“I got to see a good bit of campus,” said Goodwin. “I do like campus. It's very pretty. I like the architecture. It's one of the smaller campuses I've been on, but I kind of appreciate it.”

Goodwin enjoyed Freeman’s opening address to the group. 

“He just talked about the season and he talked about everything that he thought they did well and everything he thought that they didn't do well,” Goodwin recalled. “He also talked about what makes Notre Dame, Notre Dame, which in his words was people. The people here are special and that's what he really harps on. I really liked to hear that from him.”

After just a short period of time on campus, Goodwin understands what Freeman was saying.

“I do believe that the people there are special,” he said. “Yes, the football staff are some of the best in the nation, but the people surrounding the football staff as well; your academic advisors and all of those people who just help out, those people are what make Notre Dame special.”

Goodwin also appreciated the offensive meeting he sat in on with offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock.

“He really harped on Notre Dame's philosophies on just GRIT,” Goodwin explained. “You have to be grateful, you have to be resilient, you have to be intense, and you have to have toughness.”

Asked if those traits resonate with him, Goodwin responded half-jokingly, “Yeah, a little bit.”

He was impressed with Denbrock.

“He seems like he knows what he's talking about and I really appreciate that he seems very intelligent,” said Goodwin.

Goodwin enjoyed spending time with the other visiting offensive linemen, including current Irish commits Ben Nichols and Sullivan Garvin along with other top target Tyler Merrill.

“Throughout the entire day, we were just yapping back and forth at each other,” Goodwin said. “Actually, I met most of them at Wisconsin.

“They're like-minded people who have the same goal as me and that is to get better. I just appreciate people like that, so I have a really good feeling that we'd get along.”

Goodwin missed a good portion of the academic presentation because he was having his chat with Rudolph, but he was able to connect with Adam Sargent afterward to talk about internship opportunities and other things.

“I was able to ask a lot of questions that I wanted answered,” he said.

So, what’s next for Goodwin, who also has offers from schools like Arkansas, LSU, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin and Missouri among others?

“Honestly, it's just next in what's recruiting and that's official visits,” he said. “I've got to weigh my pros and cons, go to all these Top 5 schools and then make a decision, which is going to be very difficult.”

Goodwin isn’t quite ready to disclose who is in that Top 5, but he did acknowledge that he has already requested the opportunity to take an official to Notre Dame.

“I will be back.”

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