6′5″ · 200 lb · Roxborough, PA · La Salle College
He has tackles in 5 of Notre Dame’s 7 games: none against Wisconsin and Stanford.
6 stories in the last 30 days, from 4 outlets.
Freshman Joey O'Brien and senior Boubacar Traore combine for the sack #GoIrish #shorts
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sep 26
Joey O'Brien
On tape: 5 tackles and 0.5 sacks against Purdue, Week 4, 2026.
10 tackles · 0.5 sacks
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| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Notre Dame | 10 | 3 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Career | 10 | 3 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1 |
Last game (Wk 7): 1 pass breakup, 1 tackle, 1 tackle for loss.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 5 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | W 52-0vs Rice | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 27-10vs Michigan State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 49-10@ Purdue | 5 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | Season-high 5 tackles |
| Wk 5 | W 37-26@ North Carolina | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 24-28@ No. 8 BYU | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 10 | 3 | 1.5 | 0.5 | — | 1 |
Week 4 · 2026
W 49-10
at Purdue
0.5 sacks · 0.5 tackles for loss · 5 tackles
Dominant 39-point win on the road against Purdue.
Ratings of the games shown run from -14 to +21 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 5 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home2g | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road3g | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Marcus Freeman
Pass share
46.2%
217 pass / 253 run
Plays / game
67.1
7 games
Team sack rate
0.9%
229 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2026
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive backs who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Former five-star. Now #449 at the position.
from 4 outlets
Freshman Joey O'Brien and senior Boubacar Traore combine for the sack #GoIrish #shorts
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sep 26 · 1 outlet
from 6 outlets
Notre Dame football could look to young safety Joey O'Brien vs. Purdue
South Bend Tribune +1 Sep 21 · 2 outlets
On3How special teams are helping Joey O’Brien, Notre Dame freshmen earn bigger rolesSep 21
UHND.comJoey O’Brien Made the Most of His First Notre Dame Football StartSep 27On3Each week: his team’s game, the stories about him that week, and the week’s biggest news headline.
Stories are headlines grouped by what they are about, counted through Oct 24.
Fans first named him at Purdue.
His career
