Notre Dame Hot Takes: Practice No. 1 - Defense

CULVER, Ind. – Notre Dame has officially kicked off the 2019 season, with the first football practice of the season taking place today in Culver, Ind. on the campus of Culver Academies.

Practice one is now in the books, and we begin our new practice coverage format today. We’ll begin with quick analysis of the offense and defense and then tomorrow we’ll post a far more detailed and extensive breakdown of the practice.

We’ll begin today’s coverage with hot takes from the Irish defense.

JEREMIAH OWUSU-KORAMOAH, ROVER – Junior Owusu-Koramoah lined up with the first team at Rover today, sporting a new No. 6 jersey after wearing No. 30 his first two seasons. For two years we’ve talked about his raw athleticism, and today he had that on full display. Owusu-Koramoah had a couple of coverage mistakes that will need to get cleaned up, but his ability to cover ground and make plays was outstanding.

Owusu-Koramoah had a brilliant interception of QB Ian Book on a slide throw outside. Owusu-Koramoah was playing off coverage, played inside out on the throw and as soon as Book threw the ball he exploded downhill, jumped the throw and picked it off. He made two more similar plays that resulted in break ups.

During drills he impressed with his foot quickness and explosiveness. Owusu-Koramoah also seems to have added a little bit of girth to his otherwise thin frame, which should benefit him when the pads come on.

Sign up for a new annual membership to BlueandGold.com and get 25% off PLUS a FREE $75 Adidas gift card