Four-star DB Joey O'Brien details weekend on Rocky Top
2026 four-star, top-100 ATH Joey O’Brien returned to Knoxville over the weekend for the first time since October. Following the multi-day visit to Tennessee, he went in-depth on the trip with Volquest.
O’Brien made the return trip ahead of his scheduled June official visit for a couple of reasons.
“I just wanted to get down here and see practice, and see how the team is looking and spend time with the coaches because I really like it down here,” the four-star said of this. “Wanted to build that relationship with the team and the players and I got to hang out with a bunch of the players.”
The visit went well for the versatile prospect as he felt like he got a “lot of love” from the staff.
“They showed me a lot of love,” the four-star said of what stood out the most about the visit. “I got to increase my relationship with Coach Nez and Coach Heup and Coach Banks, my guy. And it’s just cool to hang out with them. Got to hang out with them a lot.”
O’Brien mainly enjoyed the genuine time spent around the Tennessee coaching staff throughout the visit.
“They always keep it real with you,” the four-star said. “They don’t tell you what you want to hear. They tell you the truth, and I feel like that’s huge.”
O’Brien also enjoyed getting the opportunity to see Tennessee practice on Friday, and the tempo of the first spring practice for the Vols certainly stood out to him.
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“Fast-paced practice, and I can see why they’ve been a top team,” he said of what stood out about this. “Just practice leads to that. Practice leads to winning games, and you can tell by how they run it that they’re going to win a lot of games this season, too.”
Tennessee is recruiting the four-star prospect to play multiple positions in the secondary, and this is something that is currently standing out to him in the process.
“Safety, corner, the Star position, just everything in the defensive back field, all of them,” he said. “They told me I could play any of them.”
So what are the main reasons the Vols are firmly in the mix for the four-star standout?
“They’re on me a lot about how they could use me here, and they’ve shown me how they’re going to use me,” O’Brien said of this. “I think that’s big, too. And Coach ‘Nez, Coach Banks, they just develop players very well. They win and they are used to winning.
