Brian Kelly stood behind a podium as he addressed an auditorium full of beat reporters and members of the local media on Feb. 1, 2017. The Notre Dame head coach wore a gray suit jacket, purple tie and bright pink dress shirt, perhaps an attempt to use his chic attire to distract the room from the 4-8 campaign the Fighting Irish endured the previous fall.
Mid-sentence, his cell phone rang. He paused and looked down at his screen, identifying the caller.
“I need to take this call,” Kelly said, as he began his exit from the auditorium. “Excuse me.”
Once inside the front entrance of Notre Dame’s Loftus Sports Center, a foyer lined with all seven of Notre Dame’s Heisman trophies, Kelly answered the call from a 2017 prospect.
“Well, that’s great news,” Kelly said, whilst a camera crew filmed the entire stunt. “Great to hear it. Go Irish.”
He then returned to the auditorium to inform the members of the media in attendance that linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah had committed to and signed with Notre Dame.
Such a blatant, pre-planned production was quite the dog and pony show for a late-addition, three-star recruit. Just one week prior, the Hampton, Va., prospect had decommitted from Virginia after receiving an offer from Notre Dame. In-state Virginia Tech never gave him a serious look, and he had just a handful of Power Five offers.
But new Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Mike Elko and linebackers coach Clark Lea, both of whom had just been hired from Wake Forest, were ecstatic about the mid-Atlantic product. They’d recruited him for the last year at their previous school and felt he was an archetype for the rover position — a hybrid linebacker-safety role — in their 4-2-5 defense.
“On defense, he’s covered, he’s blitzed,” Lea said on National Signing Day. “He’s played off the edge. He’s played deep. He is all over the place. There’s something inside of him that’s pushing him to another level. He’s the kind of guy that, to be honest with you, there will be times where I’m going to have to tell them to pull back. That’s exactly the kind of person you want.”
Fast forward to 2020, and it’s evident Lea’s assessment was spot on.
That versatile defender he described four years prior became a unanimous All-American, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and the Butkus Award winner, an accolade bestowed to the nation’s top collegiate linebacker.
During Notre Dame’s 10-2 campaign, he made plays all over the field. He finished with 62 total stops, a team-high 11 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, three passes defended, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries (one of which was returned for a touchdown) and an interception.
Owusu-Koramoah is the third Notre Dame player in the last nine years to earn the Butkus Award. Manti Te’o claimed it — and just about every other defensive award in 2012 — followed by Jaylon Smith three years later.
There are numerous differences between Owusu-Koramoah and his Butkus-winning predecessors. Te’o and Smith each won the high school edition of the honor and were considered five-star, can’t-miss prospects. They represent the highest-ranked defensive recruits the Irish have signed in the history of Rivals (dating back through 2002).
Meanwhile, prior to college, Owusu-Koramoah wasn’t even sure what position to play.
“Throughout high school, I thought I was a safety,” he admitted. “I thought I was a corner. I thought I was everything but a linebacker.”
What Owusu-Koramoah represents is a cultural and academic fit at the University of Notre Dame, who also happens to possess the raw, God-given athletic ability necessary to develop into a defensive Swiss army knife on the gridiron. At some point throughout every press conference, he praises and thanks God for his accomplishments. In addition to his Power Five scholarship offers, he also had the opportunity to play at Ivy League institutions.
Thus, what has allowed him to thrive at Notre Dame was a desire to be nurtured as a well-rounded person.
“For ‘Wu,’ his development off the field really has translated into his development on the field,” Lea said. “I’m talking specifically just about structuring his day, being on top of all the little things that this program demands of you, the attention to detail.
"As he’s really flourished on this campus, that has absolutely transferred to his on-field performance. So it’s allowed him to reach for his potential as a player. And I still think that we’re continuing to push for that highest level for him. That’s what’s exciting for him moving forward.”
To get to this point, Owusu-Koramoah had to begin his Notre Dame career like most three-star recruits do: on the scout team. There, he played all over on defense. One week he’d line up at end, at 6-1 and 200 pounds, and come off the edge against left tackle Mike McGlinchey. The following week, he’d play middle linebacker and attempt to shed a block from pulling left guard Quenton Nelson. Both linemen were selected in the top 10 of the 2018 NFL Draft.
As a sophomore in 2018, Owusu-Koramoah began the season as the backup rover behind senior Asmar Bilal, but broke his foot during a September practice and was lost for the remainder of the year.
In his first two collegiate seasons, he hadn’t played a single snap.
“It was an opportunity where I got to learn,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “I would say that process was needed. It was a beautiful process. ‘There’s beauty in the struggle,’ as [rapper] J. Cole says. I loved it, honestly. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
In fall camp of 2019, he earned a starting spot and immediately became one of the most electric defenders on the team. From there, his progression as a junior played out in front of audiences as he led or was tied for the team lead in tackles (80), tackles for loss (13.5) and sacks (5.5).
By the time his senior season came to a close, he was considered the team’s best player and a promoter of positive vibes on the field.
“He really just has this aura that beams off of him,” said senior defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa. “When you’re around him, you just want to jump in and you’re just energized by his presence because of the way he flies around to the ball, the way he [displays] leadership on the field.”
He also drew from his experiences on the scout team as a freshman and his broken foot as a sophomore. Owusu-Koramoah knows both trials allowed him to be a more relatable and effective leader, especially when showered with praise and awards.
But he also believes that, no matter how valuable his past experiences are, such charisma can’t be taught.
“Take a look at nature,” Owusu-Koramoah explained. “You have a lion. A lion’s not the biggest, not the fastest, not the tallest, but what makes him the king of his kingdom is his attitude, and that attitude was instilled in him at birth.”
Once the 2020 season ended after losing to No. 1 Alabama 31-14 in the 2020 Rose Bowl, he made it clear during his postgame press conference that no decisions had been made. But as a projected top-10 pick with his degree already in hand, most wondered when, not if, he’d declare.
A few days later, he made his announcement.
“To the loyal fans: You’re forever loved,” he said in a statement shared on his social media accounts. “Thank you for riding it out, even when we were down and out. Love thee.
“After much prayer and wise counsel, I have decided to declare for the 2021 NFL Draft.”
Now the soon-to-be millionaire will leave South Bend as one of the most decorated and electric defenders in program history. And to think, it all happened because Kelly had the foresight to answer his cell phone four years ago in the midst of a National Signing Day press conference.
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