James Onwualu Takes Leadership Role On Notre Dame Defense

Senior Sam linebacker James Onwualu serves as perhaps the best reminder of how green Notre Dame’s 2016 receiving corps is.

Onwualu’s four starts as a freshman wideout in 2013 are four times more than anyone else on the roster, or the lone start that classmate Torri Hunter Jr. had last season while sharing time at slot with the graduated Amir Carlisle. Onwualu caught only two passes that season for 34 yards — yet that still ranks second this year among Irish wideouts to Hunter’s 35.

“I’m trying to tell Coach to bring me back, see if I can do a little both ways,” joked the 6-1, 232-pound Onwualu, who has started 17 games the past two seasons at Sam and has 68 career tackles.

It was three years ago that Onwualu, Hunter, Will Fuller and Corey Robinson comprised a promising freshman receiving corps at Notre Dame that helped rank that Irish overall class as No. 3 in the country.

All-American and first-round pick Fuller is already in the NFL, while Notre Dame student body president Robinson, who nabbed 65 passes during his career, decided to end his football career after suffering multiple concussions (Robinson is still serving as a student assistant for the receivers).

Onwualu’s decision to switch to defense was voluntary after his freshman season, even though he had minimal experience on that side of the ball at powerhouse Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, Minn.

“I honestly wasn’t sure receiver was the spot for me anyway, so I walked right up to Coach [Brian] Kelly’s office and we had a talk about where I wanted to go and what my thoughts were for my career,” Onwualu said. “We ended up agreeing that the defensive side, we might as well give it a shot, and it worked out. I had confidence in them. I knew they would take care of me.”

The transition seemed imminent because of Onwualu’s physical style. He was a mainstay on special teams (six tackles) as a freshman, and also was a standout blocker at receiver. His advice to the current youth-laden receiving corps is to find a niche that helps them gain some separation — and not just the kind from defensive backs.

“A lot of the receivers, they wouldn’t like me to say this, but sometimes they’re a little bit more pretty boy than some of the D-boys,” Onwualu smiled. “They need to go out there and be willing to play special teams, be willing to block a linebacker, do some of the gritty stuff in order to help the team. Not everybody is going to be catching touchdowns their first year. Everybody has to fit into his own role.”

The 2016 role for Onwualu is similar to what Matthias Farley had in 2015: Nothing flashy, but a valued, respected team leader while quietly and efficiently going about his duties. Like Farley, who also was a receiver as a freshman before transitioning to defense, Onwualu appears destined for a captaincy this season. Last year he was overshadowed at linebacker while the other two starters — Butkus Award winner Jaylon Smith at Will and fifth-year senior Joe Schmidt — were selected as team captains.

He might not be as vocal as Schmidt, and very few linebackers in college football possess the skill set of Smith, but Onwualu has been consistently cited by the coaching staff as a prime leader of the entire team with his selflessness and smarts. The Mike linebacker is the quarterback of the defense, so all eyes are on junior Nyles Morgan taking on that role. Meanwhile, sophomores Asmar Bilal and Te’von Coney step in to fill the immense vacancy left by Smith at Will.

Junior Greer Martini also could be a dark horse at any of the three spots, although he split time with Onwualu last year at Sam. Onwualu took 501 snaps and was more like a “big nickel” while recording 38 tackles (six for loss). Martini was inserted against triple-option teams and short-yardage situations with 314 snaps and 35 tackles (2.5 for loss).

“It really depends week to week, what different offenses are going to try to throw at us,” said Onwualu of the job description at Sam. “Just trying to set the edge of the defense, be more of a flat defender, more into the cover stuff than other linebackers would be.”

Some popular opinion or wishful thinking, depending how you look at it, has the Fighting Irish defense becoming better overall in 2016 despite maybe lacking the star power of 2015.

“I share that confidence simply because we’ve got so many younger guys now that are so hungry,” said Onwualu, noting how the defense has a balance of seasoned veterans like himself, linemen Isaac Rochell and Jarron Jones, cornerback Cole Luke and safety Max Redfield to complement a plethora of new figures like Morgan, among many others. “The competition level has just continued to get higher and higher each year. When you know you have great players below you and try to learn from you — even take your spot — then that bumps the guy in front even more.

“As long as we can communicate that to the younger guys, I think it will make us a better defense.”

Consistent concentration to avoid breakdowns are the foremost priority for Onwualu and his compatriots on defense, echoing Kelly’s theme to do “the ordinary extraordinarily well.”

‘Just making sure each play we’re communicating what we need to communicate, and each play we’re focusing on what our red alerts are,” Onwualu said. “Sometimes in a game or in a practice, you’ve run it so many times that you can kind of blow it off and you can be, ‘Alright, I know what’s going on.’ But really focusing in, because you never know what you’re going to get.”

Just like at the receiver position.

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