Senior offensive tackle will enter his fourth year as a starter for the Irish in 2006.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - (06-19-06) University of Notre Dame senior offensive tackle Ryan Harris (St. Paul, Minn.) has been named to the 2006 Outland Trophy Watch List. The award has been given annually to the nation's top offensive or defensive interior lineman since 1946.

Harris has started the last 32 games of his Notre Dame career at tackle for the Irish, including the last two seasons at left tackle protecting starting quarterback Brady Quinn's blind side. He played a key role in Notre Dame's record-setting offensive production in 2005 as the team averaged 36.7 points per game and 477.3 yards of total offense.

Harris became only the third true freshman lineman to start on the offensive line as a rookie in 2003 and earned freshman All-America honors from Rivals.com and second-team freshman All-America accolades from The Sporting News. In his first appearance for the Irish against Pittsburgh in '03, Harris and his fellow offensive lineman helped Julius Jones rush for a school-record 262 yards.

In 2004, Harris was named the team's Westwood One/Guardian Life Insurance Guardian of the Year. He helped the Irish rush for 195 yards against USC, the highest rushing total allowed by the Trojans in two years. For his career, Harris has logged 937:00 minutes of action with 142 special teams appearances.

The 2005 Outland Trophy announcement will be on Dec. 7 in Orlando, Fla., on the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show. The Outland Trophy presentation banquet, sponsored by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee and First Data Corporation, is set for Jan. 11, 2007, in Omaha, Neb.

The Outland Trophy has been awarded annually by the FWAA since 1946. It is named after the late John Outland, a lineman at Pennsylvania at the turn of the century. Since the inception of the award, three Irish players have been honored with the Outland Trophy - George Connor (1946), Bill Fischer (1948) and Ross Browner (1976). Aaron Taylor was one of three finalists for the award in 1993.

Harris joins teammates Brady Quinn (Maxwell), Jeff Samardzija (Maxwell) John Sullivan (Rimington), Darius Walker (Maxwell) and Tom Zbikowski (Churck Bednarik, Bronko Nagurski) as Irish players named to various watch list for major college football awards in 2006.