Joey O’Brien didn’t sound like a freshman who had just taken his first college start and turned in one of Notre Dame’s cleanest defensive performances of the night. He sounded like a player who already knows exactly who he is.
That came through when a reporter brought up Kyle Hamilton, a comparison that could rattle plenty of young defenders. O’Brien didn’t flinch.
“I mean, it’s a great feeling to be compared to him, but I’m Joey O’Brien. I gotta do what I gotta do.
Of course, we have the same traits, stuff like that. But I’m just trying to be the best me, and just be the best player to help this team.”
That answer fits the way O’Brien played against Purdue, and maybe even the way his Notre Dame career is starting to take shape. Thrown into the lineup for what might have been a one-game test, he made it look like he belonged there. If that turns into more snaps, O’Brien doesn’t sound remotely surprised.
His confidence showed up again when he talked about making his first start. He said he leaned on the game reps he had already picked up, and on the veterans around him.
“I kind of told Luke [Talich] I wasn’t too nervous going out there. I feel like playing a little bit in those first couple games.
That kind of helped me. Of course, you’re starting on the No. 3 team in the country, it’s a great feeling and nerves definitely were high.
But all the guys were very supportive of me. They calmed me down, made sure I knew what I was doing.”
Talich’s injury last weekend against Michigan State, while he was starting in place of injured Brauntae Johnson, opened the door for O’Brien against Purdue. O’Brien said he found out he would be starting last Tuesday, then spent plenty of time talking with Johnson and Talich about how to handle it.
The results were hard to miss. O’Brien finished with five tackles and his first career sack, which came on a safety blitz. For a player making his first start, that’s a strong calling card.
The performance also offered another glimpse of why Notre Dame pushed so hard to land him. O’Brien arrived as a 5-star safety in the 2026 recruiting class and came to South Bend after starring at La Salle College High School in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. The 6-foot-5, 203-pound defensive back was ranked No. 31 overall in the 2026 class, the No. 2 safety, and the No. 1 player in Pennsylvania in the 247Sports Composite Rankings.
His senior year in 2025 showed how much he can do on both sides of the ball. O’Brien caught 85 passes for 1,250 yards and 18 touchdowns, while also piling up 49 tackles, 4 interceptions, 12 pass breakups, one sack, and one fumble recovery on defense. He helped La Salle College win the Pennsylvania Class 6A state championship, and in the title game he had 10 receptions for 99 yards and three interceptions, including a touchdown return.
O’Brien enrolled early at Notre Dame this winter and had a strong spring before getting injured in the Blue-Gold Game. There were questions about whether that would cost him valuable practice time, but he was back for the start of preseason practice and had limited action in the team’s first three games. After Saturday, that workload figure may not stay limited for long.
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