Notre Dame commit continues to turn heads against the nation’s elite and lets every other program know what they missed out on

O’Brien is rated as a five-star, the No. 30 overall player, the No. 4 safety, and the No. 1 player in the state of Pennsylvania in the 2026 class according to the 247Sports ranking. Some see O’Brien as a safety, and on offense at wide receiver, while Notre Dame valued him at the cornerback position early on. At 6-4 and 195 pounds, he is a tremendous athlete that brings a lot of upside and versatility to the table for both sides of the football.

Notre Dame was able to win out against an extremely long list of impressive suitors. Some of the top schools that had offered him include Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan, Oregon, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Penn State, Nebraska, Miami, Florida State, Michigan State, Missouri, Syracuse, West Virginia, Stanford, Boston College, UCLA, Duke, Indiana, and Illinois among many others. 

As a junior in 2024, O'Brien put together a tremendous season for La Salle College. On defense, he collected 36 total tackles, one interception, and 13 pass breakups. O'Brien was even better on offense, where he hauled in 68 receptions for 1,029 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also threw a touchdown just to show off his overall talent.

Seeing O’Brien continue to showcase his skill set in these types of events, particularly against some of the nation’s elite, continues to validity just how special of a talent he is. This was a massive grab for the Fighting Irish, and other schools are left to try and scratch and claw to make a flip happen. If Notre Dame can hang on, this has a chance to be the biggest recruiting win under head coach Marcus Freeman.