Gregory Patrick Confirmed His Commitment To Notre Dame During Official Visit

Notre Dame has landed arguably the best haul of offensive linemen in the country in the 2026 class, and Portage (Mich.) Northern offensive tackle Gregory Patrick is a key part of that unit. The talented 6-5, 280-pound lineman made a return trip to South Bend this past weekend, and it reminded him of why he picked Notre Dame in the first place.

Patrick was on campus with the other three committed offensive line: Tyler Merrill, Ben Nichols and Sullivan Garvin. Since that visit Grayson McKeogh also committed to Notre Dame, which means the five-man class was able to get together for the first time and continue building a strong connection.

"Both days were great,” Patrick told Irish Breakdown. "I really enjoyed meeting all the commits and their families. That was the biggest highlight of the visit for me. Everyone was having a great time hanging out both days."

The players already committed continued building their bond, but the group was also very focused on trying to convince McKeogh to join the class as well.

"This was a chance for me to talk about how great the culture is," Patrick said of his time with the other linemen. "Tyler is the funny guy and they really connected since he’s from Pennsylvania too. We tried our hardest to show why Notre Dame would be great for him. We were putting a lot of work in, and I think he enjoyed it a lot.”

Patrick originally planned to announce his commitment after taking all of his official visits, but during the spring it became obvious where he wanted to go, so his plans changed. After his commitment, he noted the strong relationship and amazing conversations with Joe Rudolph during the recruiting process. While helping to recruit others, he was able to absorb another impartation from Rudolph and affirm his decision to attend Notre Dame.

"It’s an amazing place,” Patrick explained. "The visit confirmed that Notre Dame is the place for me, and I can’t wait to be here. The photo shoot was unbelievable. I committed because of the culture and people, and it was fun to experience it again.

"Coach is the best,” Patrick continued. "Our conversations are always informative, and we had another cool one. It was just a lot about life advice and stuff to think about with our teams going into senior season.”

The biggest surprise of the weekend came when the commits and recruits walked into the tunnel of Notre Dame Stadium. As they waited with their families standing on the field, the Fighting Irish intro song, “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” began blasting and they ran onto the field and hyped each other. If that wasn’t fun enough, the pinnacle was still waiting at the 50-yard line.

"We didn’t know,” Patrick shared. "It was a surprise to all of us. We look forward to having that first moment to run out of the tunnel. We didn’t have uniforms on, but it was still really cool.

“Coach Freeman spoke to us at midfield,” Patrick continued. “It was really inspiring. He told us that we’re going to be special and how cool of an opportunity we have at Notre Dame.”