Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1547006
16 OCT. 10, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE J oey O'Brien was 15 years old when he realized he was different. His seven-on-seven coach and longtime family friend, Torrey Smith, took him, Gavin Sidwar (now a quarterback at Missouri) and Julian McFadden (now a wide receiver at Syra- cuse) to OT7 in Las Vegas. Smith didn't plan on playing them, but he wanted them to learn the speed of the game up close. However, the older kids' perfor- mance changed his mind. "The kids were getting on my nerves," Smith told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "They were playing soft, so I threw them jokers in there." O'Brien, Sidwar and McFadden im- mediately marched down the field and scored. Then on defense, O'Brien's safety talent took over. As Joe O'Brien, Joey's dad, put it, he was "sticking" elite players three years older than him left and right. Smith said he would often watch film and see windows that look open for the opposing quarterback, because they are open. But with the 6-foot-5 O'Brien on the back end, those windows often closed quickly. "It might look like from the outside that [the opposing quarterback] made a bad read, but like, no he didn't," Smith said, laughing. "It was a good read! The dude just made the play." Joe O'Brien will tell you his son's con- fidence comes from seven-on-seven. Shortly after that day in Las Vegas, Joey O'Brien began his high school career at Wyndmoor (Pa.) La Salle College. When the season began, he told his dad, "Nobody in this league can beat me." In O'Brien's mind, he already dominated some of the best seniors in the country, so what was the Philadelphia Catholic League going to do? "Ever since then he's like, 'Man,'" Joe O'Brien told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "'I can stick the best.'" O'Brien knows, and has known for years, that he is a uniquely talented foot- ball player. Notre Dame head coach Mar- cus Freeman said he's "built like a created player." At his size and with his athleti- cism, the five-star Notre Dame freshman is capable of things others are not. When presented with a comparison to former Irish safety Kyle Hamilton after his first career start at Purdue, he said point-blank that "of course, we have the same traits." Hamilton, mind you, is a two-time first-team NFL All-Pro. The other part of his answer was even more striking: "I'm Joey O'Brien. I gotta do what I gotta do." But while some five-star prospects who know they're uniquely talented might be content to coast on that talent, CREATED PLAYER Joey O'Brien is uniquely talented, but his makeup — which matches the talent — will make the freshman safety great O'Brien made an impact in his first career start with a 5-tackle, half-sack performance in Notre Dame's 49-10 victory over Purdue Sept. 26. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER