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Julian Okwara Fractured Fibula, Out For The Season

Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly just confirmed during his weekly teleconference that star senior defensive end Julian Okwara has a fractured fibula and is out for the year. This will end his playing career with the Irish.

The injury occurred in the second quarter of yesterday's 38-7 win over Duke when Okwara rolled up his ankle and exited the game.

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"We feel terrible for him," Kelly said. "He will have a procedure done here once we figure out all the specifics, but it is a fibula fracture that he suffered when he was pass-rushing."

This is the second captain Notre Dame has lost for the season after Robert Hainsey went down with a fractured left ankle against Virginia Tech last weekend.

In the game yesterday, senior Jamir Jones filled in as the starter at drop end in the second half, while redshirt freshman Ovie Oghoufo rotated in off of the bench.

Another option could be true freshman Isaiah Foskey, but he's already played three games and Kelly would like to preserve his ability to redshirt.

"We want to be judicious with him," Kelly said. "We have to decide when to use that fourth game. We like him. He was part of our nickel package. He's a backup in our nickel, so we had to use them when Julian went down. We'll make a decision as a staff as to whether we will need him this weekend and maybe decide to save that for other Boston College or Stanford."

Senior defensive end Daelin Hayes would have been the obvious choice to assume Owkara's role as the starter, but he went down with a season-ending torn labrum earlier in the season. This occurred in the fourth game of the season against Virginia, which allowed Hayes the ability to redshirt and come back for the 2020 season.

He is not the only player Kelly said is now out for the season. Backup linebacker Jack Lamb will also miss the remainder of the year:

Okwara was considered by many draft analysts as a first or second-round pick in 2020 NFL Draft, including Scott Wright of NFL Draft Countdown.

"Coming into the year, I put a top 50 grade on him, so basically late first round, early to mid-second round," Wright said in October. "But I think most people thought, myself included, the potential is there. He has a huge senior year. It puts it all together and then kind of works his way into the top half of the first round."

In October, Pro Football Focus had Okwara as the No. 17 overall pick to the Detriot Lions, the team his older brother Romeo plays for.

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It will be difficult now for Okwara to work his way into the top portion of the draft now, but this should be an injury he fully recovers from.

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