With just over a month until the Notre Dame football team starts fall camp, there are already some players from summer workouts and the spring who could pose a real challenge for playing time in 2026. One of those is someone who has been surprisingly good, especially considering his youth. Matty Augustine is showing out and showing up, and while he may not start, he is definitely looking like someone who could see the field early on.
According to Blue and Gold’s Eric Hansen, the Irish coaches are taking notice of Augustine and how he’s handled himself since getting to South Bend. “Redshirt freshman OL Matty Augustine is a player who's making a strong push this summer to rearrange the NotreDame depth chart,” Hansen wrote on Twitter earlier this week. Hansen also quoted one of the coaches specifically about how they’re approaching Augustine’s role in 2026.
“He’s put himself in a position to at least be a challenge. And we’ll kind of see how the fight goes.”
The 6-foot-8, 310-pound redshirt freshman worked at tackle and guard in the spring. However, if he really wants to get a lot of playing time for Notre Dame this year, he’s going to need to work on the interior of the offensive line. The Irish are set at tackle with Guerby Lambert and Will Black on the tackles. While the team also has obvious starters at both guard positions, Sullivan Absher could be jumpable on the depth chart.
Redshirt freshman OL Matty Augustine is a player who's making a strong push this summer to rearrange the #NotreDame depth chart:
— Eric Hansen (@EHansenND) June 29, 2026
“He’s put himself in a position to at least be a challenge. And we’ll kind of see how the fight goes.” https://t.co/tmXAXT1JVK
Matty Augustine pushing for bigger Notre Dame football offensive line role
Augustine saw very limited snaps in 2025 (55); but when he was on the field, he was Notre Dame’s top-rated offensive lineman, per Pro Football Focus film grades (85.3), as well as its No. 1 run blocker (81.4). In contrast, Absher logged 327 snaps and had a 64.1 overall grade and a 62.6 PFF run-blocking grade.
Considering his monster size, it’s hardly a surprise that Augustine is already impressing people. In high school, he was rated a 4-star OT by Rivals and On3 Composite and was the third-ranked recruit in the state of Connecticut and 35th overall offensive tackle by 247Sports.
During the spring, the versatile offensive lineman started at right tackle in place of Lambert (ankle) and held his own against the talented first-team defensive ends.
“Matty has had an incredible spring and has put himself in a position to compete to be one of the five (starters),” Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said at the time. “That’s really the goal of all those guys right now that are running with the second group: Refuse to be ignored.”
If Matty Augustine can start the fall camp continuing to refuse to be ignored, he could see even more playing time for Notre Dame.
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