Iowa Offensive Lineman Carson Nielsen Is Ready To See Notre Dame First Hand

Notre Dame is hosting Iowa offensive tackle Carson Nielsen for an unofficial visit

Notre Dame is set to host an impressive list of recruits on Saturday for the Blue-Gold Game. That includes 2026 Waterloo (Iowa) West offensive tackle Carson Nielsen, who visited this past season for the first time. 

Despite not currently holding an offer from the Irish, Nielsen is very much looking forward to his South Bend return. A lot of the reason for the excitement is centered around Joe Rudolph, who has built a strong bond with the Iowa standout. 

“I went on a game day visit there last season for the Wake Forest game and it was great,” Nielsen told Irish Breakdown. “Coach Rudolph was cool to talk to and the program is obviously one of the best in the country. I’m most excited to reconnect with Coach Rudolph and just see how he coaches. I’m expecting a great visit.” 

Obviously Notre Dame is a school of high interest but until Nielsen is offered, they aren’t a school that can be at the top of the list. If an offer does come, things could change quickly. 

“Recruiting has been great so far,” Nielsen said. “Some schools standing out early are Iowa, Tennessee and Kansas State. I’m excited to get to know more schools and coaches along the way.”

This visit is pretty huge for Nielsen, who is one of the more gifted offensive lineman in the 2026 class. 

It wouldn’t be very surprising to see Nielsen leave this upcoming visit with an offer from the Irish. This Blue-Gold visit could be the beginning of Notre Dame trending in a great direction with another extremely talented offensive lineman. 

Nielsen is a fast rising offensive tackle who has been hearing from a lot of great programs recently. Some of his top offers thus far include Penn State, Tennessee, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas State and Iowa State among others. Some of the top offensive line developers in the country are paying close attention to Nielsen. 

The 6-7, 275-pound offensive tackle is currently rated as a four-star recruit on both the On3 and On3 Industry ranking thus far. He ranks highest by On3, currently sitting as the No. 105 overall player and No. 9 offensive tackle in the 2026 recruiting class. Nielsen is also rated as the No. 1 player in the state of Iowa. 

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