Joey O’Brien Proves Notre Dame Can Rely on Its Young Defensive Players

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has taken great pride in the maturity of his team through the first four games of the 2026 season.

On Saturday, the Fighting Irish showed it once again in a 49-10 win at Purdue.

While the Boilermakers weren’t necessarily in the same league as Notre Dame, the Irish defense showed it could turn to a true freshman at safety and not miss a beat.

Joey O’Brien made the first start of his career in place of the injured Luke Talich, who had stepped into the starting lineup for All-American Brauntae Johnson, who is also sidelined with an injury.

The 6-foot-5, 200-pound freshman finished with five tackles and was credited with half of a sack.

O’Brien quickly credited his coaches and veteran teammates for making sure he was ready for the moment.

“I've been in a bunch of extra meetings with Coach J-Cod (Jevaughn Codlin) and Coach (Chris) Ash,” said O’Brien. “They told me I was starting on Tuesday. It was kind of a bunch of preparation, just making sure I'm good with everything because it was a lot on my plate, but they helped me. The guys, Luke Talich and Tae-Tae helped me a lot. They were always being with me too, so they kind of made it easy.” 

Safety Adon Shuler was at the forefront of making sure his freshman teammate was ready to go, which included the captain giving up some of his own free time throughout the week.

“He's a captain,” O’Brien stated. “He's the best player on the team. He's a dog. We were meeting extra. “We don't just go over little things. He's calling me at night, going over film. He's just a great leader, a great teammate.” 

The Pennsylvania native said he wasn’t nervous for his first start because the snaps he had played during the first three weeks helped him process the moment.

“Coach J-Cod was telling me just get my feet wet,” explained O’Brien. “Play by play. Just do your job and that’ll be it.” 

It would have been understandable if O’Brien had some nerves before taking the field.

He admitted there were some, but his previous experience helped him settle in.

“I kind of told Luke I wasn't too nervous going out there,” stated O’Brien. “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 the nerves definitely were high. But all the guys were very supportive of me. They calmed me down and made sure I knew what I was doing, so it was great.” 

Notre Dame’s front seven also made life easier on O’Brien.

The Irish tallied six sacks and allowed Purdue to average just 1.3 yards per carry, allowing the freshman safety to play behind a defense that consistently put pressure on the Boilermakers.

“They're all four dogs down there, like Boubacar, Bryce, Armel, the list goes on and on. Drayk and Kyngstonn too, like they just make it easy. If the quarterback has three seconds to throw and they're being hit every time, too, it's not going to be easier for us.” 

While Saturday wasn’t O’Brien’s first action of the season, it was still a significant moment for the freshman, especially after he experienced the first injury of his career during the spring game.

“That was a scary moment,” said O’Brien. “That was my first injury ever. It was like a setback. But everyone's so supportive in there. It's really like a family, so there wasn't really any stressing.” 

For O’Brien, Saturday was another step forward.

Notre Dame needed him to be prepared, trust his teammates and do his job.

And that’s exactly what he did.

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