One Final Look: Julian Okwara, Chaos Fuels Normalcy
BlueandGold.com had a chance during last season to catch up with all three of the top-three-round Notre Dame 2020 NFL Draft picks — Cole Kmet, Chase Claypool and Julian Okwara — to hear and share their stories of triumph, diversity and dedication.
Here is Part 3 of a three-part series on those gone but not forgotten players.
Julian Okwara plays the game of life with the same zest he plays the game of football — leaves nothing on the table, satisfies every curiosity, carry no regrets.
All the way back to youth sports, Okwara’s approach made him impossible to pin down, running his parents ragged as he dabbled in every athletic endeavor that came his way.
“I just always wanted to do something to keep the energy going,” said Okwara, who remains a gifted — and presumably imposing — tennis player.
Okwara is a practical joker, whose playful chatter never stopped with his teammates or opponents. He’s high-energy, full-go, non-stop, on-the-edge, all the time.
When college life became a bit mundane last year, he welcomed in Potter, a rowdy Cockapoo puppy to add some chaos around the house.
“I like deviating from things,” Okwara said. “I like breaking the rules a little bit.”
Never one to sit still, Okwara as a youngster juggled the unorthodox athletic lineup of tennis, soccer, swimming and football, admitting today that he didn’t particularly enjoy any of the four sports.
Okwara was so disinterested in football — a sport he didn’t even play until the eighth grade — that he never watched a game or knew the rules while at the same time his two older brothers, Jimel Okwara and Romeo Okwara, were becoming gifted young players.
“I didn’t like watching it really,” Julian Okwara said of football. “I just kind of learned to like it. I kind of learned it on my own.”
The level-of-interest switch flipped for Julian in 2014 during his junior year at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, N.C.
“I had really great coaches in high school that taught me the game and cared for me and did everything they could to make sure I was always good,” said Julian, who moved to the United States from Nigeria as a third-grader. “I had great friends, going out there and playing football together, it was just nice.”
Because of an early start to schooling back in Nigeria, Julian arrived at Notre Dame in 2016 barely 18 years old.
But even while playing a lot undersized and often overwhelmed as a freshman at 6-5 and 215 pounds, Okwara still tallied 21 total tackles and 2.5 sacks.
Okwara’s best Notre Dame season came as a junior in 2018 when he recorded eight sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss.
As a senior in 2019, Okwara’s season was cut short after he broke his leg against Duke Nov. 9. But he still managed five sacks and 32 quarterback pressures on 202 pass-rushing snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, solid production.
Injury rehabilitation and limited opportunities to demonstrate his “draftability” because of COVID-19 restrictions dropped Okwara out of his preseason first- and second-round draft projections, but that didn’t deter the Detroit Lions from selecting him in the third round (67th overall) last month in the 2020 draft.
Playing now at 6-5 and 248 pounds, Okwara is still considered undersized for an NFL defensive lineman.
But what he lacks in size, this versatile cat-like hybrid-type — Okwara can drop into pass coverage or edge rush quarterbacks — he more than makes up for with athleticism and elusiveness.
“He harasses the quarterback,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly explained of Okwara last season. “He gets quarterbacks uncomfortable. They move their feet. They change their launch point. Their eyes drop. Things just make them uncomfortable.”
It’s been widely reported, but worth repeating, that Julian and his older brother Romeo — both Notre Dame graduates — are now teammates for the first time.
In both high school and in college, Romeo was departing the same year that Julian was incoming.
Julian and Romeo are the first Irish brothers playing on the same NFL team since 1979 and 1980 when defensive lineman Ross Browner and brother Jim Browner, a defensive back, were on the Cincinnati Bengals together.
“When Romeo is around, Julian is obviously very excited to see him. But Romeo has never been that guy that is giving advice,” Kelly explained of when Romeo would drive down from Detroit to visit little brother at Notre Dame. “[Romeo] kind of stays back and he’s let Julian be who he is. I’ve always appreciated that, the way Romeo has handled Julian and letting Julian be who he is.”
Surprisingly, Julian said that when the two brothers corresponded during Julian’s college years, football was rarely discussed.
“It’s nice to get your mind off football at times because you can get too carried away with the game,” Julian said. “I would honestly go crazy if I couldn’t step away.”
We’ll see how well that setup holds-up now as NFL teammates and brotherly roommates.
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