ASHLAND – Killian O’Brien has been catching adjectives the same way he catches footballs since his second game as a varsity wide receiver.
Flashy? Splashy?
Those words fit when he had 161 yards and three touchdowns on just four receptions at Marion Harding back in Week 2 of his sophomore season.
Explosive? Overwhelming?
Just a few more that defined his skill after his Senior Night outing last week, when O’Brien went for eight catches, a career-high 169 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions at home against Lexington.
Those sparkling efforts have only been the bookends to an eye-popping career with the Arrows that will continue this Friday in a playoff game at Canal Winchester.
From the minute he stepped into the varsity offense for AHS, the guy now known as “KOB” was electric.
He’ll finish his high school career with at least two program records. No one who has watched him for the past three seasons is surprised.
“We’ve had guys over the years, when we’ve sat in one-on-one meetings, they’ve talked about breaking records,” Ashland head coach Scott Valentine said. “That’s something that motivates some guys to work hard and that’s been part of his makeup.
“Once he’s graduated, (opposing) coaches are going to say, ‘I’m glad he’s gone.’”
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound O’Brien announced his commitment to accept a full scholarship to NCAA Division II West Liberty prior to last Friday’s game against the Minutemen.
He then went out and broke Ashland’s record for career receiving yards, previously held by Jon Metzger (2,539 from 2020-22).
Earlier this season, O’Brien also overtook the AHS standard for career receiving touchdowns, which had stood since 2010, when Chris Thomas finished with 25.
O’Brien currently has 2,553 career receiving yards and 31 career receiving touchdowns.
If he makes at least four catches at Canal Winchester – where he almost surely will need to have a few big plays if the 12th-seeded Arrows (6-4) are to knock off the fifth-seeded Indians (7-3) – the senior will own the Ashland mark for single-season catches as well (he currently has 83 and Trey Smith had 86 in 2014).
“As soon as I knew I was going to be a receiver, I had those records in the back of my mind,” O’Brien said. “I can tell you the numbers and I always wanted to break them.
“Coming into my senior year, I knew exactly what I needed and I just knew I was gonna do whatever it took to get them.”
Once he’s graduated, (opposing) coaches are going to say, ‘I’m glad he’s gone.’
Ashland head coach Scott Valentine on senior receiver Killian O’Brien
Could have been a QB
What makes O’Brien’s feats as a receiver even more impressive is that he didn’t even step into the position until his freshman year.
From his time in youth flag football all the way through eighth grade, he had been a quarterback.
But with budding star Nathan Bernhard in the class ahead of him, O’Brien knew his road to that position was blocked.
“Coming into high school, I knew Nathan was in my way and there was no beating him out (for quarterback),” he said, “so it was either I transfer or I start a new path and learn to play receiver.
“I always had the athleticism and the hands, but I never worked on receiver. I picked it up freshman year and I busted my butt to get where I am because I knew I still wanted to play college football.”
The position switch was an instant success.
While Bernhard (now playing in the Big Ten at Maryland) turned himself into one of the most sought-after quarterbacks in the Midwest for college programs, O’Brien was one of the guys who helped push that talent into a brighter spotlight.
During the 2024 and 2025 seasons, he and Bernhard connected for 74 receptions, 1,486 yards and 20 touchdowns. He accounted for more than a quarter of Bernhard’s 76 career passing scores.
“Sometimes receivers want the ball a little too much and they always think they’re open,” Bernhard said, “but with Killian, even if he wasn’t the most open, he was still able to make a catch or a great play.
“He bailed me out sometimes making some great catches.”
The connection between the college-bound duo was nothing if not historic. Ashland finished a combined 22-3 with Bernhard and O’Brien doing their aerial damage together.
The Arrows’ average of 41.2 points per game last season was the best in program history, with O’Brien totaling 40 catches for 760 yards and 12 scores – amazingly averaging a touchdown on every 3.3 receptions.
College enters the picture
Bernhard had the benefit of playing with a variety of solid receivers and three of them are in the Ashland record books.
Metzger, now a senior receiver at NCAA Division II Hillsdale College, was Bernhard’s go-to guy when he took over as the starting quarterback as a freshman in 2022. That year, Metzger set Ashland’s single-season record for receiving yards (1,312).
O’Brien, who has a career-high 1,067 receiving yards this fall, said he loved watching Metzger play and was close with the Metzger family growing up.
Then last fall, senior Gabe Baith also rounded out his time as an Arrow with the school record for career receptions (177), making him and O’Brien one of the best 1A-1B receiver punches in AHS history.
Bernhard felt lucky to have so many pass-catching threats from start to finish of his time in Ashland’s shotgun formation. He said he knew very quickly that O’Brien had the skill and work ethic to be a game-wrecker.
“Some of the plays Killian made his sophomore year, you knew, ‘OK, this guy’s got the potential. This guy’s got it,’” Bernhard said.
“It was nice having another guy who cared as much about winning as I did and wanted to play at the next level,” O’Brien said of Bernhard. “I always loved getting that text from him, when he said, ‘Do you want to go to the field and run some routes?’ I was always saying yes; I didn’t care what I was doing, I would put that down and head to the field.”
O’Brien said his opportunities to be seen by more college coaches was boosted by having Bernhard as his quarterback for two seasons. Every time he spoke with a college coach, they had either already been in contact with Bernhard or at least knew of him.
And after a sophomore season in which he averaged 21.4 yards per reception, O’Brien was making a name for himself just as well.
By the spring before his junior year, he had offers to the Division I FCS program at Austin Peay, as well as Ashland University.
Prior to this season, O’Brien added offers from Division I Georgetown and Division II Walsh and West Liberty to the list.
Earlier this month, he went on a visit to the University of Pittsburgh, where he also was made an offer, although it wasn’t for a full scholarship.
Having been born in Pennsylvania and growing up a fan of Pittsburgh football, he said playing for the Panthers has been a dream scenario. But O’Brien wants the chance to play quickly and the hope is he can perform well enough to get a Division I opportunity down the road.
His cousin, Girard product Tuff McConahy, is a redshirt freshman and backup quarterback at West Liberty, so there will be a level of comfort there from the start.
Bernhard said he sees similarities with O’Brien and some of the receivers he works with at Maryland, adding that a little bit of time in a college program will take the Ashland senior to an even higher level.
Valentine believes the same thing.
“He’s physically able to do things against corners and defensive backs that allow him to get open,” the coach said. “And he’s faster than some people think, or maybe than he looks like on tape.
“He’s also made a lot of catches where you don’t think he’s gonna be able to get it and he’s been able to reach out and grab it with one hand.”
Skill to spare
The one-handed catch thing has become a bit of a calling card for O’Brien.
While he said his hands are basically an average size, his focus on being able to do next-level things has always existed.
He said he and his father, Arrows assistant coach Stiles O’Brien – himself born in Pennsylvania and a former college player at Youngstown State University – spent countless hours working on the game together.
“From a young age, whenever we would play in the yard, I always thought of that as a time for one-handed catches,” Killian said. “When we went to the field, I always did the two-handed stuff, but I always knew how to do that.
“It was always just one hand in my yard because you never know when you’re gonna have to just stick out that one hand and catch it.”
O’Brien, who constantly worked on his speed and agility as he developed as well, has had a few of his one-handed snags on Friday nights widely viewed on social media.
It’s his favorite thing to do on a football field.
… You never know when you’re gonna have to just stick out that one hand and catch it.
Killian O’brien on his continued work to make one-handed catches when needed
When Ashland set a program record for points in a playoff game last year in its 56-21 win over Mount Vernon, he leaped to snare a jaw-dropping, one-handed touchdown in the middle of the end zone.
Last week against Lexington, he made another one in nearly the same spot, this time pulling it in while falling toward the back of the end zone.
O’Brien said it was his favorite catch to date and laughed when it was suggested he could have used both hands for that particular grab.
“I probably could have,” he said with a smile, “but sometimes I just like to put one hand out there.”
Valentine also laughed when asked if he’s spoken with his receiver about the snazzy snags through the years. He said they’ve always been on the same page with it.
“If he doesn’t make a catch because he’s trying to be flashy, I definitely let him know,” Valentine said. “If you make me look like a good coach, I’ll let some of those things go. But if you start dropping it, then it’s a problem.”
The coach also noted O’Brien’s impressive catch radius – his ability to adjust to passes all around his body – as one of his strengths.
Continued evolution
Following the graduation of Bernhard and one of the most talented senior classes in program history, O’Brien returned this year as the No. 1 focus for opposing defenses.
His game had to adapt because of it.
With junior Liam Hubacher and sophomore Carson Graber getting their first opportunities as varsity quarterbacks, O’Brien’s focus turned to being a more volume-heavy, screen-game threat.
Entering 2026, his career-high total in catches in a game was seven. This season, he’s had at least seven catches in eight of 10 games – even doubling that with 14 against both Dover and Madison.
O’Brien has gone from being an outside receiver to now the slot guy on the three-receiver side. It’s a scheme Valentine uses to try to avoid double- and triple-team coverage of his star senior.
During his sophomore and junior seasons, the starting Ashland offense often didn’t play much beyond the middle of the third quarter due to blowout wins.
That has changed this year, and between more catch volume and his continued usage on defense (he has 40 tackles and 12 career interceptions as a defensive back), O’Brien has evolved.
“At first it was definitely different and it took a toll on my body; I had a lot more bruises and took more hits and was really sore,” he said. “But I’ve just gotten used to it and I feel the best I’ve ever felt after taking the most hits. … I feel like I’m built for it.”
All told, O’Brien has made a touchdown catch in 19 of his 35 games on varsity. In 11 of those, he’s had multiple receiving scores.
But perhaps most impressive is his streak of games with at least one catch. He’s never played offense in a varsity game without one, and assuming that continues Friday, his run of 36 consecutive games with a reception will be tied for 12th in Ohio history, according to the OHSAA record books.
“He’s an ultra competitor. He wants the ball and he’s extremely confident in his ability to go make a play,” Bernhard said. “I think that edge helps at the end of the day.”
