7. Julian Okwara, Notre Dame
Height: 6’4″ Weight: 252
40-Yard Dash: N/A
Bench Press: 27 reps
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
60-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Bio: Born in London, Okwara spent his early years in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria before his family moved to Charlotte, North Carolina when he was eight years old. He started playing football in the eighth grade and worked his way up to four-star recruit status. Multiple schools offered, but Okwara chose to go to Notre Dame as his older brother Romeo, who plays for the Detroit Lions, did.
Stat to Know: Okwara broke out in 2018 with 61 total pressures, the sixth-most in the NCAA that season. Injuries limited his field time in 2019, but he still put up 32 total pressures on just 202 pass-rushing snaps (314 in 2018).
Strengths: Bendy athlete who can turn the corner on the pocket with quickness if he beats the tackle out of his stance. Works his way deep into the arc with alarming speed; tackles have to set later in their progressions than they’d line. Counters blockers on the bend with excellent leverage and upper-body strength. Has an easy backpedal to get into coverage. Plays well in space with off-call potential and chases with outstanding acceleration. Bull-rush doesn’t always show up, but could be a plus move at the NFL level.
Weaknesses: Plays a lot out of an upright, two-point stance and doesn’t know how to work power into high leverage or elusiveness. Gets washed out and bullied far too easily far too often — doesn’t have a plan with his hands when he gets taken out head-on; at that point, he bounces off and goes elsewhere. Positionally limited unless he adds weight and strength. Doesn’t seem to play with a finishing mentality as a tackler. Snaps against Georgia where he’s pushed a good 10 yards off the line of scrimmage. Needs to develop some semblance of hand technique as opposed to just running right at, or right outside, blockers.
Conclusion: There is absolutely no doubt about Okwara’s athleticism; there are times when you could mistake him for a tight end with his movement skills. His NFL team will have to understand that, at this point, he’s a specialist outside the tackles, and it’ll take time to bring everything else up to par. But he’ll likely reward with splash plays right off the bat.
NFL Comparison: Yannick Ngakoue. Selected by the Jaguars in the third round of the 2016 draft out of Maryland, Ngakoue transformed himself from a pass-rushing specialist with some holes in his game into a do-it-all guy with some dominant effort sacks and pressures. Okwara carries the same physical prototype, and with work and experience, has that potential.