Two-way football star Joey O’Brien picks Notre Dame. Now, he has a state title to win with La Salle.

It was a whirlwind tour that seemingly had no end. It was weekend stops to South Bend, Ind., then to Eugene, Ore., then to University Park, Pa., and off to Clemson, S.C. Joey O’Brien would hit reset, and then go back again.

At each destination, he was dined on the merits of the football program, hearing everything he wanted to hear, and with each stop, he fell momentarily in love with the campus, coaching staff, and program he had just visited.

He was getting 50 calls a day. Everywhere he went, pizza shops, stores, camps, workouts, school hallways, he was probed with the same question: “Where are you going to go?”

And on and on it went the last four months for the five-star, 6-foot-5, 190-pound defensive back/wide receiver from La Salle College High School.

On Friday evening, O’Brien, considered by many to be the best high school football player in the state, decided Notre Dame is where he wanted to be.

After a junior season in which he caught 68 passes for a single-season school-record 1,029 yards and 12 touchdowns, and made 36 tackles and had one interception, O’Brien chose Notre Dame over Oregon, Clemson, and Penn State. He’s projected to be a strong/free safety, and nickel back at Notre Dame, though he says he will get a chance to play both ways for the Fighting Irish, who also received a commitment from O’Brien’s La Salle teammate, 6-8, 285-pound left tackle Grayson McKeogh, and a January commitment from another prominent Pennsylvania player, 6-7, 335-pound offensive tackle Tyler Merrill of Cumberland Valley.

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O’Brien becomes the first five-star pledge of Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman’s 2026 recruiting class. O’Brien informed Freeman, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Chris Ash, defensive backs coach Mike Mickens, defensive analyst Jevaughn Codlin, and recruiting coordinator Carter Auman about his commitment on a Zoom call Wednesday night.

It came down to Notre Dame and Oregon, O’Brien said.

“I just thought the culture there at Notre Dame, the 2026 class, and getting a Notre Dame degree, which I feel helps you in the real world, were the deciding factors,” said O’Brien, whose mother, Tishara, is a grade school teacher. “My older self would be upset with me if I had a chance to go to a school like Notre Dame and I didn’t. It did come down to Notre Dame and Oregon. I loved both schools, and both coaching staffs, but a Notre Dame degree means more. Money didn’t factor too much into my decision. The money was pretty much the same from all the schools. But this is a lot off my mind. I can now focus on this season and winning a state championship.”

O’Brien held up very well under the deluge of phone calls, Zoom meetings, and attention that came at him. Those around him, the La Salle coaching staff, and his family marveled at how well-grounded he was. Everything was going fine, then the first inkling of pressure started to hit this week.

“I liked the process up until this week,” O’Brien said. “The only thing that messed me up was trying to decide between four great schools. I had, for example, Penn State wanted a primary weekend, and I couldn’t accommodate everyone all the time. It did get tense this week. I was getting double the phone calls I usually get. It’s the only time I really felt any pressure. Overall, this went smoothly, and that came from the relationships I had with the coaches. That was my biggest issue through the entire process: Every time I came from somewhere, I loved it. The determining factor is a bunch of my guys are also going to Notre Dame, now with Grayson, and [cornerback] Khary Adams [from Baltimore] going. I’m already close with a lot of the other Notre Dame guys. I’ve been in touch with Merrill, he’s one of my guys.

“Now my job here [at La Salle] is to win. The last time La Salle won the state championship was 2009. I was 2 years old. I want that to end.”

O’Brien will sign his contract with Notre Dame in December. Numerous sources confirm he will receive a heavy six-figure sum that will accrue over time. By the time he graduates, he could receive well over seven figures, sources said.

His decision in June also alleviates some stress for La Salle coach Brett Gordon, who wasn’t fielding 50 calls a day like his rising senior star, but close to it.

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“I’m happy for Joey; he let me know Wednesday night,” Gordon said. “This is a whole new world for me. On June 20, I learned that these colleges are still learning everything about this new recruiting process on the fly. Everything is changing so rapidly. Everything that was new 12 months ago, 24 months ago, that is out the window now. It is interesting, the unique approach each school has. I don’t envy the colleges. They are in a tough spot. But it gives young people a chance to be financially set at a very young age. For me, the relief comes in the sense knowing Gavin [Sidwar, La Salle’s starting quarterback, going to Missouri], Grayson, and Joey feel really good about their decisions. That’s what is most important to me. I’m also a realist, knowing this is a new age of college football recruiting

“No one can sign until December. In the modern age of recruiting, I don’t know when this stops. For Joey, this is over. We have a season to prepare for. We need to focus on that and keep managing the distractions as we go into August, September, and into the season. I was getting 25, 30 calls a day. I wanted to be respectful to every program involved. We feel good in what we are building here. We’re mindful about building relationships, but with social media, everyone has contact with everyone else. This is a new world, but I am relieved. Once we hit a certain date, my players understand, it’s about the 2025 La Salle football season.”

O’Brien’s decision to go to Notre Dame could be a shocker for Penn State, which heavily recruited him. Nittany Lions coach James Franklin only has two area commitments on his 2026 recruiting list: 6-3, 200-pound Coatesville linebacker Terry Wiggins and 6-4, 240-pound defensive tackle Alex Haskell from St. Joseph’s Prep. The Nittany Lions are still in on Malvern Prep edge rusher Jackson Ford (6-4, 240) and former Malvern defensive tackle Cam Brickle (6-3, 305), now at IMG Academy in Florida.

Keeping in-state talent has been a priority for Franklin, who has lost the top-rated player in Pennsylvania in two of the last three years, though he has retained the top player in the state in three of the previous five, including current starting tailback Nick Singleton.

This season, O’Brien will be the hub of a La Salle team that is coming off a 10-1 record, with its lone loss coming against three-time defending PIAA Class 6A state champion St. Joseph’s Prep in the Catholic League championship.

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Last season, O’Brien was selected as the Most Valuable Player in the Catholic League Red Division, which produced two state champions, St. Joe’s Prep (Class 6A) and Bonner-Prendergast (Class 4A), and three of the eight overall state finalists (the Prep, Bonner-Prendergast, and Roman Catholic).

It was O’Brien who beat St. Joe’s Prep during the regular season last year in October, when he improvised on a two-point conversion play that mimicked the “Philly Special,” which gave the Explorers a 35-34, quadruple-overtime victory before 15,000 at Upper Dublin High School.

With his college decision made, O’Brien said his focus now will be on breaking La Salle’s decade-long drought of reaching the state playoffs. O’Brien said he is ready to shoulder another burden, one shared with his La Salle teammates: winning a state crown.

“With this over, winning the state championship is my sole priority right now,” he said. “I didn’t show it after we lost to Prep [in the Catholic League] championship last year on the field. But when I went home, I cried. It was painful. I felt like I let everyone down. I don’t want to go through that again. If we don’t win the state title, I will blame myself. I still have that attitude.

“My time is ticking. I plan on going to Notre Dame in January. I want to go there with a state title. We haven’t done anything yet. I still have things to accomplish before I graduate. If I’m set, we’re set. I didn’t want my recruitment to be a distraction to the team. It’s not now. We have a state title to win.”