Could a Notre Dame 5-star defensive back freshman become a starter?

The Notre Dame 2026 recruiting class has been showing that many of them are ready to play, especially considering the majority of them enrolled early.

One of those players was former 247Sports composite 5-star safety Joey O’Brien, who look good in the spring but suffered an injury during the Blue and Gold game. It would slow him down a bit, but it’s looking like he’ll be ready to go when the season starts.

Notre Dame shared a clip of Thursday’s practice, as Pete Sampson pointed out during cornerback DJ McKinney’s interception, that O’Brien was getting a rep with the first team defense. He’s been compared by Andrew Ivins to Justin Simmons of the Denver Broncos, who was a two-time Pro Bowler and made the second-team All-Pro four times.

O’Brien has a chance to have a great Irish career, one that could see an impact early. While he most likely won’t get the start in the season opener against Wisconsin, he certainly has a shot to start down the road. Injuries happen, ineffective play, or O’Brien is so good that he needs to be on the field. Regardless of when, it very much looks like the former 5-star will be starting for Notre Dame in the near future.

Notable: DJ McKinney makes a pick of a ball thrown into double coverage. Christian Gray and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa had Logan Saldate taken away.

Interesting: Freshman Joey O’Brien got work with the 1’s on defense here. pic.twitter.com/DJ9Z7yKwih

— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) August 20, 2026

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Could a Notre Dame 5-star defensive back freshman become a starter?