
Joey O'Brien, a Notre Dame commit, dominated day one of the Rivals Five-Star Challenge
Notre Dame football is one another hot streak in recruiting, and one of its most recent commits, safety Joey O'Brien, dominated the first day of Rivals Five-Star Challenge Camp.
The 6-foot, 3-inch and 185-pound star was named by On3 as the No. 3 performer of Tuesday's session, the top defensive back on the list. O'Brien is ranked as the country's No. 65 overall prospect by the 247Sports Composite, and if he keeps performing at a high-level like he did yesterday, a move North could be made.
The Irish have to be extremely happy to see O'Brien dominating the competition, as it shows that he's clearly one of the best players nationally. Many of the best high school prospects are in attendance, and for him to be named one of the top performers is very impressive.
Also on the list was 2027 quarterback Teddy Jarrard, who Notre Dame offered in the last week. He's been a great addition to that class, as the Irish got its first commit of that cycle on Tuesday with long snapper Sean Kraft.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

NBC Sports
3 hours ago
- NBC Sports
Rivals Five-Star: Breaking down the tight ends
INDIANAPOLIS – The stars came out for the 2025 Rivals Five-Star event at the Indianapolis Colts' facility this week. Here we break down the top tight ends from the event. MORE FROM INDY: Highlights and analysis | Teams that should be pleased | Positional MVPs | Gorney Awards | Biggest surprises | Flip watch | QB analysis | RB analysis | WR analysis RECRUITING INTEL: Mid-South | Florida | West | Southeast | Midwest RIVALS FIVE-STAR MEDIA DAY: All the news, notes and interviews | The All-Lobby Team | How solid are the commitments? | Roster RIVALS FIVE-STAR INTERVIEWS: Jaden O'Neal | Trae Taylor | Chase Calicut | Samu Moala | Jake Kreul | Felix Ojo | Peyton Houston | CJ Sadler | Richard Wesley | JaReylan McCoy | Carter Scruggs | Nolan Wilson | Carson Sneed | Derrek Cooper | Devin Carter | Jayden Wade | Joel Wyatt | Kaden Henderson | Nick Abrams Prothro was one of players the national analyst staff was most excited to see perform at Rivals Five-Star on Tuesday. The elite tight end prospect was warming up and went through the majority of position drills when he pulled his hamstring and was unable to work out the rest of the day. Prothro was visibly disappointed but his physical development, which was the biggest question mark surrounding his ranking, was obvious. He weighed in at 216 pounds and, despite the pulled hamstring, even participated in the bench press competition where he recorded nine reps of 225 pounds. Georgia is trending in Prothro's recruitment but Auburn and a handful of other teams are in pursuit. The caliber of defender Georgia commit Lincoln Keyes faced at Five-Star was new to him and it was good for the national analyst team to evaluate him under these conditions. The Michigan native is a very impressive prospect with great hands and the ability to make tough catches over the middle and down the field. He'll be a very reliable target for Georgia quarterbacks when he gets on the field in Athens but that could take some time. Keyes has a well-rounded game but he could find it difficult to consistently create separation from defenders when he reaches the next level. That being said, the style Keyes plays with would complement Prothro's skillset beautifully, if both do end up signing with Georgia. The two highly ranked tight ends were frequently seen chatting and playing catch during the down time on Tuesday. That relationship appears to be fairly strong and could pay dividends for the Dawgs down the road. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH GEORGIA FANS AT Holden Niemi was a late addition to the Rivals Five-Star roster and took advantage of the opportunity to make a strong impression. The 2027 prospect out of Illinois is fairly well-developed from a physical perspective and showed strong athletic traits throughout the workout on Tuesday. Adjusting to the variety of quarterbacks seemed to be a bit challenging for him at times, which resulted in passes falling incomplete. Niemi is only heading into his junior season so there is plenty of time for him to make adjustments to his game before he reaches the next level. He is, however, on the smaller side when it comes to the trends that have emerged in the NFL Draft for tight ends so keeping an eye on his physical growth will be a focus going forward. Tennessee tight end commit Carson Sneed posted impressive measurements during registration on Monday and he had plenty of bright spots on the field Tuesday. At 6-foot-6, 246 pounds, Sneed is fairly lean but plays with a great deal of strength, which showed when linebackers and defensive backs bounced off of him as they tried to disrupt his routes. He isn't the most natural receiver but there is plenty of potential to get excited about, which is surely part of the reason why Florida, North Carolina and others are trying to pry him away from the Volunteers. The Gators appear to be making some headway but it's hard to count out North Carolina at this point in the recruiting process. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH TENNESSEE FANS AT

NBC Sports
5 hours ago
- NBC Sports
British and Irish Lions dominate Force in the opening game of their Australian tour
PERTH, Australia — Dan Sheehan made the perfect start on debut for the British and Irish Lions. The Ireland hooker led the Lions for the first game of their Australian tour, scored in the second minute and steered the team to a commanding 54-7 win over the Perth-based Western Force in front of a crowd of 46,656 on Saturday. 'It's all sinking in now. All week I've been focused on the game and making sure I don't lose the plot in my head,' said Sheehan, who was captain while Maro Itoje was rested. 'I've grown up wanting to play in this jersey, never mind captaining. There's a lot of lads who've worn the jersey for the first time — we need to enjoy this.' After an arm-wrestle of a first half where the Lions led 21-7 despite having only 40% of possession and spending most of the time in their own half, the bigger, more polished British and Irish lineup opened up and put five unanswered tries on a tiring defense in the second. Scrumhalf Tomos Williams scored a pair of tries before limping off with a left hamstring problem, fullback Elliot Daly scored two tries and No. 10 Finn Russell created two tries with his spur-of-the-moment judgement. He also kicked five goals. Henry Pollock, the 20-year-old England No. 8, played an integral hand in two tries and also spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin in his eventful starting debut for the Lions. 'We have a few things to fix, mainly our discipline,' Lions head coach Andy Farrell said. 'Once we gained a little bit of composure, I thought the second half was a little bit better. 'I was happy how we stayed in the fight,' he added, 'it was a tough old start to the game.' Early exchanges The Lions made changes after a 28-24 loss to Argentina in a warmup last week in Dublin, putting more emphasis on short, sharp passing. The Lions had the ball for 11 phases until Russell kicked wide to the right touchline where Sheehan took the ball high and tapped infield for winger James Lowe, who flicked an inside pass back to him to score. The Force equalized quickly with veteran Wallabies scrumhalf Nic White sniping over from the base of a ruck in the fifth. The Force opted against taking penalty goals in order to keep up attacking intensity but the Lions held firm and relieved pressure with some crucial turnovers. Flyhalf Russell set up the first try with his pinpoint kick wide and the third with a quick penalty tap and go in the 35th, scooting up to the five-yard line before popping up a ball off the ground for fullback Daly to score. In between, Pollock was instrumental in the Lions' second try, bursting onto a sharp inside ball from openside flanker Josh van der Flier, stepping inside and out and going to ground before popping a ball up to scrumhalf Williams to score. The tourists went into halftime with a man down after Pollock was yellow carded for a ruck infringement deep inside his own quarter. The Force crossed the line from the resulting penalty but were held up. A key moment Williams finished off an 80-meter counter-attacking try seven minutes into the second half. He limped off after scoring, and was replaced by Alex Mitchell. Garry Ringrose scored soon after and Pollock, the youngest member of the Lions squad, was back in the attack quickly, chipping over the defense, regathering and almost scoring himself before the Lions shifted it quickly for lock and player-of-the-match Joe McCarthy to cross out wide in the 55th. Daly scored in the 71st and Mitchell extended the final margin to 47 points when he scored after the siren, taking the last pass from Australian-born Ireland winger Mack Hansen. 'The score didn't reflect that game at all,' Force scrumhalf White said. 'Certainly, that first 50 minutes, we go stuck right into them. One turnover — they go the length and the game kind of blew out from there.' The Lions are playing nine games in their first tour to Australia since 2013, including tests in Brisbane on July 19, in Melbourne on July 26 and in Sydney on Aug. 2. Their next match is against Queensland next Wednesday in Brisbane.


USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
Boom! Ohio State gets commitment from four-star defensive lineman
110% COMMITTED! GO BUCKS! 🌰 Boom! Ohio State has landed a verbal pledge from coveted defensive lineman Damari Simeon. The commitment came early in the weekend as the Buckeyes beat out Michigan, Penn State, and Texas to land his services. Simeon was somewhat of a late bloomer in terms of recruiting. He did not have a composite ranking as of February when Larry Johnson first offered the young man, but shot up the recruiting boards in recent months. By the time summer rolled around, Simeon had offers from many of the big boys, including Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Tennessee, and more. Simeon is a four-star prospect from New Jersey and is the No. 26-ranked defensive lineman in the country according to 247Sports composite rankings. Simeon is the 18th overall commit in the class and becomes the second defensive lineman in the class, joining Khary Wilder. Ohio State currently sits at No. 5 in the 247Sports Composite rankings.