Wisconsin · W 41-13
No tackles.
Stanford · W 58-7
No tackles.
O'Brien has tackles in 6 of Notre Dame’s 8 games: none against Wisconsin and Stanford.
11 stories in the last 60 days, from 6 outlets.
Notre Dame football could look to young safety Joey O'Brien vs. Purdue
South Bend Tribune +1 Sep 21
Joey O'Brien
On tape: 5 tackles and 0.5 sacks against Purdue, Week 4, 2026.
11 tackles · 0.5 sacks
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 27from 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 21UHND.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 Nov 4.
Fans first named Joey O'Brien at Purdue.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Notre Dame | 11 | 3 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Career | 11 | 3 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1 |
Last game (Wk 9): 1 tackle.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 6 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| 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 | |
| Wk 9 | W 35-13vs Navy | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 11 | 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 +17 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 6 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 |
| Weeks 8+1g | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Marcus Freeman
Pass share
46.7%
247 pass / 282 run
Plays / game
66.1
8 games
Team sack rate
0.8%
259 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 #477 at the position.
