La Salle College High School may have to change its nickname from the “Explorers” to the La Salle “Fighting Irish,” after Joey O’Brien, La Salle’s five-star 6-foot-5, 190-pound defensive back/wide receiver, and 6-foot-8, 285-pound left tackle Grayson McKeogh, committed to Notre Dame.
O’Brien made it official on Friday, choosing the Fighting Irish over Oregon, Clemson and Penn State. McKeogh made his decision on Thursday, choosing Notre Dame over Penn State, Alabama, Boston College, Duke and Texas.
“For me, it came down to education and culture,” O’Brien said about his choice to attend Notre Dame. “I know a lot of those guys committed to Notre Dame, and now that Grayson is going, it’s a group that all knows each other. The money was the same between all the schools. It came down to Notre Dame and Oregon. I value a Notre Dame degree. It will help me later in life. I was sold on Notre Dame’s education and culture.”
O’Brien is projected to play safety and possibly appear in some offensive packages for Irish head coach Marcus Freeman, while McKeogh will be a left tackle.
“It was between Notre Dame, Penn State and Texas for me, and I was always told, ‘When you know, you know,’ and when I was on that Notre Dame campus, and with those guys, I knew,” said McKeogh, a converted basketball player who made possibly the play of the season for La Salle, when his diving interception at the Explorers’ five-yard line in regulation allowed La Salle to beat rival St. Joe’s Prep, 35-34, in a quadruple-overtime thriller. “I felt Notre Dame was the place for me, and those were guys I wanted to spend time around.
“At times, the recruiting was aggravating, between the trips, calls, juggling everything. Other times, it was good.”
Last season, O’Brien caught 68 passes for an Explorers’ single-season school-record 1,029 yards and 12 touchdowns. On defense, where is projected to play as a cornerback, he made 36 tackles and broke up 13 passes, with one interception. O’Brien is the second player from Pennsylvania that Freeman has received a commitment from, joining Cumberland Valley 6-foot-7, 335-pound four-star offensive tackle Tyler Merrill.
O’Brien becomes the fifth player Notre Dame has now received a commitment from in ESPN’s 300 top 105 2026 college football recruits. O’Brien will join 6-4, 220-pound defensive end Rodney Dunham (Charlotte, N.C.; No. 56), Merrill (No. 66), 6-2, 180-pound cornerback Khary Adams (Baltimore, MD; No. 68), and 5-9, 190-pound running back Javian Osborne (Forney, Texas; No. 80). Freeman last year landed St. Joe’s Prep linebacker Anthony Sacca, whose father Tony Sacca was a four-year starting quarterback for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State thought it had a good shot at O’Brien, according to numerous sources. Over this decade, Nittany Lions’ coach James Franklin has been able to keep three of the top eight No. 1-rated players in Pennsylvania by ESPN 300 in state: 2023 offensive guard J’ven Williams (Wyomissing/Penn State), 2024 running back Quinton Martin (Belle Vernon High School/Penn State) and 2027 junior running back Kemon Spell (McKeesport/Penn State).
Of the other five, two have ironically transferred to Penn State after they committed elsewhere: 2020 wide receiver Julian Fleming (Southern Columbia High School/Ohio State, transferred to Penn State), 2022 edge rusher Enai White (Imhotep Charter/Texas A&M, transferred to Penn State). The other three of ESPN’s top-rated players in the state opted to leave: 2021 linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. (St. Joe’s Prep/Clemson), 2025 edge rusher Zahir Mathis (Imhotep Charter/Maryland) and current senior 2026 offensive tackle Tyler Merrill (Cumberland Valley/Notre Dame).
La Salle finished 10-1 last season. The Explorers’ lone loss came against three-time defending PIAA Class 6A state champion St. Joe’s Prep, 21-14, in the Catholic League championship. O’Brien was responsible for both scores on 30- and 66-yard touchdown receptions. But it was O’Brien that led the Explorers to a dramatic 35-34 quadruple-overtime victory over The Prep during the regular season, throwing the two-point conversion pass on an improvised play that resembled “The Philly Special.”
O’Brien was selected last season as the Most Valuable Player in the Philadelphia Catholic League Red Division, which produced three of the eight overall state finalists (Prep, Bonner-Prendergast and Roman Catholic) and two state champions (St. Joe’s Prep/Class 6A and Bonner-Prendergast/Class 4A).
La Salle last went to the PIAA state playoffs in 2015, losing to Parkland in the Class 4A quarterfinals. Since the PIAA implemented the Class 6A system in 2016, the Explorers have never been to the state playoffs, a position occupied by their rival, St. Joe’s Prep, which has been to each of the nine Class 6A state title games played, winning seven state 6A titles, including the last three.
La Salle was the first Philadelphia Catholic League team to win a PIAA state football championship, taking its one and only state crown in 2009 under Drew Gordon, the father of current Explorers’ coach Brett Gordon.
Last year’s regular-season victory was La Salle’s first over St. Joe’s Prep in three years, since the Explorers’ 28-21 win at Penn’s Franklin Field on October 2, 2021. Entering the game, Prep’s dominance over its nearest rival was profound. Since the Nov. 21, 2015, Catholic League Red championship (won by La Salle, 29-28), the Hawks were 14-1 vs. La Salle having outscored the Explorers 543-197, winning by an average of 36.2 to 13.1 in that span. La Salle had beaten The Prep twice in the last nine years, Nov. 21, 2015, and on Oct. 2, 2021. Add on Oct. 5, 2024 and it’s three times in the last 10 years. Since their 2021 victory over the Hawks, the Explorers were 0-5 entering last season’s regular-season game against The Prep, outscored 173-44 in that span, losing by an average of 34.6 to 8.8.
La Salle has big expectations this season.
“I don’t think there is an ‘if’ we’re going do this, we’re going to do this,” McKeogh said. “We’re going to (win the state championship) and accept nothing short of that. I feel that confident. I know we haven’t done anything yet. We are the team this year to do it. We will face adversity and we will need guys to step up. I’m ready to take that on. I have a lot more determination, we have a lot more determination. We’re going to be ready. Now that (college recruiting) is over. We’re going to put everything into winning everything.”