Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2019 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2019 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 93 Most draft analysts slot Okwara as a fu- ture first-round choice in 2020, and expect Kareem to go in the first three rounds. Those lofty projections are bringing comparisons from 42 years ago to the most prolific tandem of defensive ends ever to play together at Notre Dame in Ross Browner and Willie Fry. "We'll be the best defensive line in the country," said Okwara, welcoming any and all historical connections and expectations. After leading the Irish to a national cham- pionship in 1977, Browner was selected in the first round (eighth overall) of the 1978 NFL Draft while Fry went in the second round (49th overall). Finish The Job Most defensive players, especially line- men, would be thrilled to hold any single- season pass rushing record … just not Okwara. In fact, just a passing mention of his 61 quarterback pressures (21 hurries per school stats, a record) last season causes him to wallow in what-ifs. Had Okwara finished off 10 of those hurries, he would have led the nation with 18 total sacks, if the eight sacks he actu- ally recorded last season were included. "Last year, I know a lot of plays where I either ran by the quarterback or just missed bringing him down," said Okwara, who in turn, made his primary offseason mission to better corral quarterbacks rather than just chasing them. As some motivational prodding, Kelly shared a highlight video of Okwara's missed sacks last season. The total was 27. "Finishing for Julian, plays where he can be the leading sack guy in the country," Kelly explained of what Okwara needs to work on. "He can be a menace to teams. We want that. "He harasses the quarterback. He gets quarterbacks uncomfortable. They move their feet. They change their launch point. Their eyes drop." Kareem, who despite playing all of last season at less than 100 percent — he injured his left ankle in the opener against Michigan and two weeks later suffered a high ankle sprain — still had 42 total stops, and tied for second on the team with 10.5 tackles for loss and third with 4.5 sacks, while also adding 37 of his own quarterback pressures (per PFF). "I can do much better," Kareem said of last season. "I didn't have time to recover. I was a little banged up but that's part of football." As is leadership for two of the best and most important players on the team. Kelly and the Irish coaches named Ok- wara and Kareem as two of the eight SWAT team leaders in charge of running offseason workouts, an honor and responsibility that often serves as a precursor to a team captain selection when those are named later this summer. "I'm trying to be one of the leaders of the defense," Okwara said. "And to be a guy people can count on and look at to make a play, or being able to step up and get the energy up." Kareem, who initially committed to Alabama out of high school, has also become a strong voice on the team, even extending his leadership role to the interior defensive linemen, a unit that lacks the experience and num- bers the Notre Dame edge players enjoy. "You don't let anything slide or go unno- ticed," Kareem said of his leadership style. "If a guy messes up, you don't have to yell at him during the play. Just pull him over to the side and let him know what he has to do to face it." Aim Higher In 2016, the Irish accounted for only 14 sacks as a team. In 2018 they had 34, match- ing the 2012 Irish for the most in a season since 2003. Expect even more prolific num- bers this year, so much so that many be- lieve Okwara could hunt down Justin Tuck's single-season school sack record (first kept track of in 1982) of 13.5 set in 2003. At the least, Okwara and Kareem are both confident they'll become the first Irish play- ers to record double-digit sacks in a season since Stephon Tuitt had 12 in 2012. And with 38 percent of the 32 first-round picks at the 2019 NFL Draft being defensive linemen, maybe spending another year in college will prove to be a wise investment for both players next year. For Okwara, returning means another year to add more muscle and mass to the lanky 6-5, 240-pound frame he played with last season. He arrived at Notre Dame in 2016 un- dersized, overwhelmed, only 18 years old and at just 215 pounds, so his physical gains are already notable. Yet room for growth remains. "I definitely take pride in wanting to be the best defensive end in the country," said Okwara, well aware that at least another 10 pounds of muscle mass will serve him well at the next level. "I definitely have some ways to go but I'm going to get there." Listed this spring at 6-4 and 262 pounds, Kareem has the size, but his mission is to stay and play healthy after being slowed by those foot and ankle ailments last season, and to improve his consistency. "For Khalid, just cleaning up his over- all game in all areas, the little things," said Kelly, singling out Kareem lining up offside in the Blue-Gold Game. "He's a dedicated player, but we just want to clean up the little things in his game." Kareem took his coach's challenge head- on this summer, spending much of his off- season at a training facility in Atlanta, work- ing to improve his hand and foot quickness under former NFL defensive end Marcus Howard. "Being named [a SWAT team] leader, that kind of pushed me to do everything the right way," Kareem said during the spring season. "I tried to do that already … but this is good pressure, I like it." Pressure is part of the program at Notre Dame, especially for a team trying to win double-digit games three years in a row for only the second time in program history (the first occurring in 1991-93) and to repeat as a CFP participant. Okwara said the best approach to squelch- ing added pressure starts with squashing opposing quarterbacks. "We had way too many missed sacks last year, leave nothing on the table this season," said Okwara. "We could've been the best pass rushing unit in the country. This is our year to prove it." ✦ "We had way too many missed sacks last year, leave nothing on the table this season. We could've been the best pass rushing unit in the country. This is our year to prove it." OKWARA