As the Notre Dame football team prepares for what should be a fantastic 2026 campaign, all kinds of players are set to man a defense that could be the best in the country. On Tuesday night, head coach Marcus Freeman addressed some of the players he expects to be back and ready at some point this year after missing time due to injury. Among them was Joey O’Brien, who has the potential to be one of the most impressive freshman defenders for the Fighting Irish since defensive backfield mate Leonard Moore.
While Freeman didn’t spend much time on the subject of O’Brien, mainly because he’s not worried about him, he did make it clear that the safety should be full go when fall camp starts. That’s tremendous news in its own right after the freshman suffered an injury in this spring's Blue & Gold game that had some wondering if it might carry over into the fall.
When the Notre Dame head coach was asked about O’Brien’s ankle, he responded, “He’ll be good.” The lack of specifics indicates that the Fighting Irish aren’t worried at all about his return. That is a bit of a change from earlier this summer when O’Brien posted a picture of himself in a hospital bed that had fans worried things had gone from bad to worse with his ankle.
If O’Brien is indeed back and full go for fall camp, he could be one of the biggest impact freshmen of the season. He was impressing people plenty this spring before the injury. That he won’t miss much, if any, time in fall camp means he could get up to speed quickly.
Joey O’Brien cleared for Notre Dame fall camp after ankle injury
There aren’t many freshmen who are rated as highly by everyone who knows the game like O’Brien has.
The 6-foot-4, 185-pound former 5-star safety from La Salle College High School (Glenside, PA) was ranked as the No. 27 player in the 2026 class, the No. 1 player at his safety position and the No. 2 player in the state of Pennsylvania according to 247Sports Composite Rankings.
He was ranked that high because of the numbers he put up on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball for one of the best programs in Pennsylvania.
O’Brien caught 86 passes for 1,249 yards and 18 touchdowns during his 2025 senior season, while recording 50 tackles and four interceptions on defense. As a junior in 2024, he caught 68 passes for 1,029 yards and 12 touchdowns and added 36 tackles, 13 pass breakups and one interception.
He’ll only be playing defense for Notre Dame, but possessing the kind of offensive talent and instincts he does will aid him immensely if and when he’s patrolling the Fighting Irish secondary as a starter.
Add us as a preferred source on Google