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Notre Dame Lands Elite Safety Joey O'Brien: Breaking It Down

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Bryan Driskell | Last updated Jun 23, 2025 9:39 AM ET

On Friday, Notre Dame landed a pair of talented defensive backs and the second player to commit was Philadelphia (Pa.) LaSalle College star Joey O'Brien. It was a commitment that was a long time coming and was one of the biggest recruiting wins for Notre Dame in the 2026 class.

The Irish Breakdown team went live right after his commitment to break down what it means. Here's the entire video of the O'Brien breakdown segment.

Here is a rundown of the O'Brien commitment video:

*** To kick the show off the IB team discusses how important this commitment is for Notre Dame. That is followed by a dive into the back story of how this commitment came to be. Notre Dame recruited O'Brien for about two years and invested a lot in this recruitment, so adding him to the class was huge. Notre Dame was a long-time leader for O'Brien but late a couple of national programs made a huge run at him, but the Irish still won the day.

*** Next up in the show is the Class Impact, where the IB team breaks down how this commitment impacts the Notre Dame 2026 recruiting class and the Irish secondary. O'Brien is the first player projected at safety to commit to Notre Dame, but this wasn't always his projected position. Breaking down how he could impact the team at multiple positions shows a big part of what makes O'Brien an impact recruit.

*** After the Class Impact the team dives into the film room to break down what makes O'Brien one of the nation's best recruits. In the film you see him show dominant play at cornerback, safety and wide receiver.

*** The final portion of the show looks at what's next for Notre Dame when it comes to secondary recruiting.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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