2026 TE Gavin Mueller Returns To Notre Dame
Gavin Mueller made his first trip back to Notre Dame after landing his offer from the Irish, but that could be the 2026 Illinois tight end’s final visit before making his decision.
“It was good,” the 6-foot-6, 235-pounder told Irish Sports Daily. “It was fun seeing everyone and then catching up with coaches and all that. It was great.”
The South Elgin High School prospect had the chance to spend time with head coach Marcus Freeman, offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Mike Denbrock and assistant tight ends coach Harris Bivin.
“Just trying to get me back out there for an official visit and then explaining the tight end success throughout the program and the history and then telling me how he sees me fitting in there,” Mueller said of Denbrock.
“He obviously is not opposed to playing people young and he thinks I have the size to be one of those guys who can play pretty early…It's not like anything is guaranteed, so it's just going to be a lot of work if that were to be the case.”
In addition to Notre Dame, Mueller has offers from schools like LSU, Colorado, Wisconsin, Duke, Florida, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Kentucky, NC State and Cincinnati among several others.
Freeman offered some perspective on what the Irish can offer.
“Just how he perceives Notre Dame versus how he went through his recruitment process of going to Ohio State and the difference of what a degree at Notre Dame and a career at Notre Dame really means,” Mueller said.
“It definitely means a lot to graduate from Notre Dame.”
Bivin has made strong impressions on recruits of late, including Mueller.
“He's great,” Mueller said of Bivin. “He's very personable and he's very down to earth, which is awesome.”
Mueller’s unofficial visits are done. He has officials to LSU and Colorado coming up in early May and a decision scheduled shortly afterward.
“It's going to be interesting for sure because my plan is to commit May 14th and I don't know if they're really even doing any spring official visits,” Mueller said of the Irish. “So we will see, we'll see how it goes. We'll see what happens.”
Mueller would like to take an official visit to Notre Dame before making his decision, but at the moment, those two timelines don’t line up.
“It would be nice to be honest. It would be nice to take one, but I've been there a couple times, so we'll see. I know a good amount of the school, but obviously an official visit be great to put the cherry on top.”
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