One of Clemson football's top targets in the 2026 recruiting class made a decision this weekend and it came down to the schools he visited officially.
Joey O'Brien, a five-star safety, visited Notre Dame, Oregon, Penn State, and Clemson, and made his college decision over the weekend, but unfortunately for the Tigers, he decided to go to one of their top rivals in recent years: Notre Dame.
Clemson misses out on major target for the first time during official visit season which, if you think about it, is actually an impressive stretch for Dabo Swinney.
Yes, the Tigers will miss out on plenty more targets this cycle, especially with their class filling up, but Dabo has been able to land most of his Plan A guys so far. He is trending for another five-star who he received a crystal ball for earlier this month and he's hoping to land at least 1-2 more in that range.
However, missing on O'Brien hurts, considering he was the No. 30 overall recruit and No. 4 safety in the 2026 class. He also went to a rival which is bad news for future matchups with the Irish.
O'Brien was at Clemson for the massive May 30 official visit weekend and he was one of a handful of five-stars in attendance that weekend. Getting the first and last official visits usually give those teams a major advantage to set the tone and leave a lasting impression, and it's clear that the latter happened when he visited Notre Dame on June 13 before his decision a week later.
Clemson still has a top-five class and should be adding to it soon.