Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Corey Robinson By Andrew Owens Notre Dame's roster is filled with future NFL talent unlike any Irish team in a couple decades. When you combine that with the returning expe- rience and promising underclassmen head coach Brian Kelly has recruited, there were sure to be some players that disappointed in 2015 while oth- ers stepped up. Junior wide receiver Co- rey Robinson is one of the most (if not the most) im- pressive student-athletes on the Irish roster. His combination of academic success, commitment to service and football talent is second to none. This season on the foot- ball field, however, Rob- inson has taken a step back in his production. Expectations were high for him after catching 40 passes for 539 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore in 2014, but his numbers this fall have more resembled his freshman statistics. Through 11 games, he had only 11 receptions for 129 yards and one touchdown. (As a freshman in 2013, he had nine catches for 157 yards and one score.) Robinson was never going to be Notre Dame's No. 1 option at receiver with junior Will Fuller still on the roster, but he easily could have carved out a No. 2 role. One preseason NFL Mock Draft even projected him as a first-round pick next spring. Since bobbling a pass that was intercepted and sealed Notre Dame's fate in the 55-31 loss at Ari- zona State on Nov. 8, 2014, he has recorded only 19 receptions for 218 yards and two touchdowns in 15 games. Romeo Okwara By Bryan Driskell When he signed with Notre Dame back in February 2012, Romeo Okwara was a 16-year- old with a great deal of promise. During the first three years of his career, however, any discus- sion about him had more to do with potential and not much about what he was actually doing on the field. In the first 39 games of his career, Okwara re- corded just 7.0 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and two QB hurries. His 2015 season did not start off much better, with Ok- w a ra p ro d u c i n g o n l y 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack and two QB hurries in the first five games. If you add the beginning of his senior season, Okwara had just 8.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and four QB hurries in the first 44 games of his career. In Notre Dame's 41-24 win over Navy, Ok- wara recorded a sack and had a QB hurry, which started a hot streak that saw him put together a season's worth of production in just five games. From Oct. 10 to Nov. 14 — a span of five games — Okwara dominated the opposition, making 11 tackles for loss, eight sacks and five QB hur- ries. He was a force against the run and as a pass rusher. Okwara's production was the biggest surprise of the season, even more than a converted run- ning back, C.J. Prosise, rushing for 1,000-plus yards and last year 's third-string quarterback, DeShone Kizer, taking over and leading the Irish to the verge of a playoff berth. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHICH PLAYER HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST SURPRISE (POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE) FOR NOTRE DAME IN 2015? ROBINSON OKWARA