Laissez les bons temps rouler pour Notre Dame – recruiting is heating up for real for real as we officially move into summertime. Notre Dame secured a massive commitment from elite talent Joey O’Brien today, who is a five star on 247 and a consensus top 150 prospect across the four major services. The 6’3″, 180 pound Pennsylvanian was a top priority for Marcus Freeman and Mike Mickens, who came out on top of a heavyweight Royal Rumble with Penn State (again), Oregon, and Clemson. O’Brien could be an elite safety but is also athletic enough to play corner if needed and reportedly will get a look at receiver as well. He’s the second highest ranked recruit in the class, per the 247 Composite, behind only Rodney Dunham.
As with O’Brien’s current and future teammate, Grayson McKeogh, this recruitment favored Notre Dame early before drifting more towards competitors – in O’Brien’s case, each of Penn State, Oregon, and Clemson at different times – and then touching down in South Bend with a resounding thud this week.
Notre Dame Marching Band BIG DUNK!
byu/Simon_the_Cannibal ingifs
Exclusive video of Freeman and Mickens in a pickup game with James Franklin
The lead photo, by the way, is one that O’Brien tweeted of himself and top 100 CB Khary Adams. I wrote this post yesterday and included that photo as a tease thinking Adams would commit later. Ha! I’ll get an Adams post up soon.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9667 rating), #65 overall, #6 S, #2 in PA
On3 Consensus — 4 star (95.04 rating), #40 overall, #5 S, #1 in PA
The 247 Composite and On3 Consensus both combine 247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN rankings.
247Sports — 5 star (98 rating), #30 overall, #4 S, #1 in PA
On3 — 4 star (90 rating), #181 overall, #16 OT, #5 in PA
Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), #136 overall, #7 S, #3 in PA
ESPN — 4 star (83 rating), #102 overall, #4 ATH, #3 in PA
Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (93 rating)
Note: Friend of the Stripes Jamie Uyeyama does the recruit evaluations for ISD, and we trust his evals as much as anyone’s; while the 247 Composite and the On3 Consensus don’t factor in ISD evals, we put a lot of weight on them ourselves. ISD only ranks the top 50 prospects in each class, and hasn’t ranked 2026 yet. Based on past classes a 95 rating would be the bottom end of their top 50.
Cohort
In addition to Notre Dame, Clemson, Oregon, and Penn State, O’Brien holds offers from Alabama, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Stanford, UCLA, Virginia Tech, and many others.
Highlights
Doesn’t take long to see why he’ll get a shot at receiver – his ball skills are absurd. Have to respect the OC’s plan of “just chuck it to Joey,” seems to work pretty well. O’Brien consistently shows excellent athleticism no matter what he’s doing. He’s a very heady player who understands what he’s seeing and takes great angles to the ball as a tackler, and when he gets to the ball carrier he intends to inflict damage. I really can’t find any nits to pick in his game – he is an elite, elite talent that even as a top 75 guy is probably underrated.
Impact
The secondary picture for 2026 and beyond is pretty fuzzy as of today, with clarification depending heavily on what happens in the 2025 season. Adon Shuler could return for his senior season in 2026, or if he has a phenomenal year he could declare for the 2026 draft. He’s the one player you could write into a starting safety spot in ink at the moment for the upcoming season. Classmates Ben Minich and Luke Talich are largely enigmas at this point, although both will have a chance to get in the rotation. Rising sophomore Tae Johnson did fairly well in emergency duty at corner last season and has uncommon athleticism and size, but he also is mostly an unknown at this point. His classmate Taebron Bennie-Powell got hurt in camp last year and is a complete unknown, at least to us. The 2025 class features Jadon Blair, Ethan Long, and Brandon Logan, a talented and athletic trio, but they’re incoming freshmen. It’s anyone’s guess how they may impact the depth chart in this season, let alone in 2026.
All of that is a very long way of saying there are no sure things at safety as we look forward to 2026. O’Brien has a rare mix of athleticism, size, and ball skills that should give him a chance to get in the mix very quickly – I’m not ready to liken him to Kyle Hamilton, but he’s on the radar for that comparison. I can see a path to him forcing his way into the rotation right away and becoming a frontline contributor as a sophomore. He’s that good.
Welcome to the Irish family, Joey!
