Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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age. (Fellow Nigerian Victor Abiamiri, who was an Irish defensive end from 2003-06 before becoming a second- round pick in the NFL Draft, also was 16 when he played as a high school senior.) Yet Okwara still received a mono- gram his freshman year in 2012, pri- marily for his work on special teams while recording seven tackles and forc- ing a fumble. Last season, he worked at both outside linebacker spots, with Shembo and Ishaq Williams on one side and Jaylon Smith and Ben Coun- cell on the other. Injuries to Councell and especially along the front line forced Okwara to play with his hand on the ground for the first time, and he finished with 19 stops. This spring, with a switch to more of a 4-3 look under new coordinator Brian VanGorder, Okwara settled in at end, where he was competing with early enrollee Andrew Trumbetti for snaps. The initial returns were not promising for Okwara, with Trumbetti even getting the first look with the top unit during an open practice March 22. "If we had a little bit more depth at that position we probably wouldn't be talking about him," Kelly said of Trumbetti, which was also interpreted as a call to Okwara to elevate his game. Over the final two weeks of spring, Okwara became one of the team's most improved players, culminating with three sacks for minus-29 yards in the spring game, plus another tackle for lost yardage. "A product of repetition and work," Kelly said of Okwara at the end of spring. "He didn't get a ton of work last year. When we started off the spring it was new for him in a lot of ways. We've got this big athletic kid, but there's a lot of room there for growth. What we were hoping to see is what we're seeing — steady improve- ment. "Our expectations are that come time to play against Rice [Aug. 30] that we're going to see a different player than we saw on the first day of spring." According to Kelly, Okwara was inserted late last year in November losses to Pitt and Stanford only in passing situations. He had no grasp of different stances, how to respond to different blocking schemes, or how to handle first and second down. Junior lineman Sheldon Day, sopho- more linebacker Jaylon Smith and ju- nior cornerback KeiVarae Russell are on the Notre Dame defense's top tier with their combination of experience and ability, but Okwara is knocking on the door for entry into that group. "It's just the knowledge base based upon him being out there," Kelly said on what has held back the 258-pound Okwara. "He's played so much more football. … He's getting a sense and feel for different situations." "I think we found a role for Romeo, one that I think we feel a lot more com- fortable where he is. He's got to do a good job of taking care of his body and keeping his weight up." "It's going to take time to get used to it and learn it, but it's exciting at the same time," Okwara said. "I'm just getting used to playing the position [defensive end] again. … Age doesn't faze me. I can go against anyone." ✦