La Salle WR/DB Joey O’Brien commits to Notre Dame

Tagged under: District 12, News, Recruiting

Patrick Birkhead | June 21, 2025

Joey O’Brien Commits to Notre Dame

After a lengthy recruiting process 5 star defensive back and wide receiver Joey O’Brien has committed to Notre Dame. O’Brien is one of the most sought after football recruits in the country and stars for the La Salle Explorers. This year with La Salle, O’Brien won the PCL red division championship along with winning MVP and being named to the All Catholic 1st team. Besides this Joey has many other accomplishments, a few of them consist of his selection to the Nike Next One Invitational and Polynesian Bowl. Joey O’Brien also competes for 7 on 7 team, Level 82, and O’Brien was named an MVP candidate in their league this year. Joey O’Brien dominates on the field using his elite frame, athleticism, and feel for the game. His catch radius is alien-like and he is great in coverage. In the rare occurrence that a quarterback does throw his way, O’Brien is great at capitalizing and intercepting the ball. Although he is a great player on the field he is also an excellent leader, his coach Brett Gordon claimed that “He just kind of leads by example and because he’s that type of person he’s just an overall good guy. Obviously he’s super talented and the kids respect what he can do on the field”. Notre Dame and their staff most definitely view Joey as a future leader of their program and a guy who can make his teammates better.

O’Brien was down to 4 very prestigious schools which included Penn State, Clemson, Oregon, and Notre Dame. In the end Marcus Freeman and the Irish captured his commitment. With this decision Joey will be joining his teammate Grayson Mckeough at Notre Dame. One of Joey’s reasons for picking Notre Dame was their ability to develop him. O’Brien stated “Mike Mickens will be the main person developing me. He was one of the best in the country, he’s ranked one or two for the best cornerbacks coach. So I think you got to go to the best to be the best”. Clearly Joey thinks that Mike Mickens and company will be able to develop him into a pro level player in his time at Notre Dame. At his current school the staff preach brotherhood, when asked if he sees a similarity in the brotherhood at La Salle to that of Notre Dame he claimed “Yeah I definitely do, I mean I think Notre Dame is the next step from La Salle and I just feel like it’s a great move for me.” With his recruiting process finished, O’Brien will now focus on winning both a PCL and state championship with Coach Brett Gordon and the La Salle Explorers in his senior season.

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