Signature Moves: Julian Okwara

By now, virtually all Notre Dame fans have pieced together that Julian Okwara is the younger brother of soon to graduate and 2-time defending team sack leader Romeo Okwara. If you weren’t aware of that, now you’re in the know. Okwara verbally committed to the Irish on April 14 of 2015 and basically shut down the recruiting process thereafter.

Photo courtesy of Rivals.com

A weak-side defensive end, Okwara has a very lean build: 6’4″ and 220 pounds. 247 Sports ranked him as the #24 Composite weak-side defensive end. Okwara, who calls North Carolina home, picked the Irish over Clemson, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Michigan. One can guess big brother helped make that decision easier.

Okwara should easily fill out his frame and already possesses plus pass rush skills. After the Irish seemed to swing and miss so frequently on defensive end prospects in recent years, Okwara’s potential future pairing with Khalid Kareem should give Irish faithful plenty to look forward to. With both Romeo and Sheldon Day set to graduate, there’s also a chance the younger Okwara could see the field sooner rather than later.

One of the truly wonderful parts of high school recruiting videos is when elite prospects are mismatched versus overwhelmed competition. Okwara’s senior highlight video is an excellent example.

Finally, it's all official

— Julian Okwara (@shwaggyj) February 3, 2016

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Moons

Part-Time Blow Hard

Survivor of the Davie, O'Leary, Willingham football eras. Southern. Charming and more often than not the wittiest person at his dinner table (he eats alone quite a bit).