Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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blocker to recorded one of his career- best three sacks versus the Demon Deacons. "Confidence is a great thing for many people," head coach Brian Kelly said. "… He's playing with some of that reckless abandon that he lacked before. At times [in the past], he was kind of feeling his way through his role, where now he's really confident in what he's doing and how he's doing it. "I think that's probably the biggest key for him right now." Okwara is not eligible for a fifth year in 2016 because he contributed on special teams in all 13 games in 2012. Both Kelly and Okwara, of course, wish the senior could return for one final season, but they don't dwell on the past. "When we're on the fence, where we think that they can contribute early in some way, we'd rather play them because there is really no guar- antee that they're going to come back [after they get their degrees]," Kelly said. "If they're not a frontline player, they want to play. "And if they don't play, they'll gen- erally try to find another place where they can get on the field. It's one of those catch-22s for us." While senior defensive tackle Shel- don Day is the unquestioned leader of the defensive line, Okwara has also grown into a mentor for the less expe- rienced members of the unit. "Romeo works his butt off," sopho- more defensive end Andrew Trum- betti said. "He does everything right on and off the field. He's a great leader. He's a great guy to learn from and a great guy to watch. He's a champion on and off the field." One other factor in Okwara's emer- gence? The effect of new defensive line coach Keith Gilmore. "He seems to have adapted to less is more from Keith's teaching," Kelly said. "Not that [previous defensive line coach and current linebackers coach] Mike [Elston] didn't do a great job. He does a great job at any position I've asked him to coach. Sometimes it's a connection, and I think when we asked less of Romeo in terms of technique and what we wanted him to focus on it's really helped him a lot and he's blossomed." Okwara has fully bought in to the less is more approach, saying that he has focused on a couple moves that work for him. "I wouldn't say anything has changed. I still prepare the same way, and I guess I got lucky a couple times," he said. "In the past I've been trying a lot of different things, and I was good at certain things. I realized if I'm good at something, why not keep doing it? "I've been using my power more instead of trying to do speed rushes outside. My power works better for me." Okwara's goal coming into the sea- son was to reach the 10-sack mark. Through 11 games, he had the afore- mentioned nine quarterback take- downs — an amount that tied him for 25th nationally. "I'm not there yet," he said. "I've got to keep working at that." His career is an indication that if he keeps working at something, chances are he will eventually break through. ✦