OLB Jeremiah Owusu- Koramoah, Notre Dame

2021 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

APRIL 14, 2021

NFL Draft 2021 Scouting Report: OLB Jeremiah Owusu- Koramoah, Notre Dame

*Our LB grades can and will change as more information comes in from Pro Day workouts, leaked Wonderlic test results, etc. We will update ratings as new info becomes available.

For two months now, I’ve been in a mild state of disbelief on Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah as a top 20 prospect – I cannot understand why so many people have him there. How will an NFL team use him in a way that makes him so valuable?

He’s a 6’1”/221 coverage outside linebacker with a slender frame and pretty quick east-west feet. After scouting his tape, I thought to myself – I want to know that 40-time and bench press because I don’t see the straight speed nor any power in his play…immediately followed by this thought: If I were him, I would skip the 40-yard and the bench press.

FYI, he was able and willing to participate in all his Pro Day work…EXCEPT the 40-yard dash…AND bench press.

So, I think I’m onto something…onto his (should-be) obvious flaws. I’m not hung up on his cool name…nor the lack of other interesting linebackers at the top of the draft for people -- I’m onto his flaws. I’m not his paid or unpaid hype man like the rest of CFB/NFL analysts.

Where do you play JOK…what position do you play him to justify a top 20-30 pick?

He’s way too thin to be a legit pass rusher, and he’s not straight line fast (he’s OK but not ‘fast’). He can surprise attack pass rush/blitz from time to time, but he’s not lining up and coming off the edge in the NFL as a major pass rush weapon. No way.

He’s not converting to middle linebacker. I don’t see it. They might try, but his frame is thin and for every solid tackle or two he makes, I saw another attempt where he just bounced off Clemson and Alabama level ballcarriers. Maybe he adds 10+ pounds of muscle but – why didn’t he do that before to help his payday? I think, in part, because he’s not that fast and the added weight would kill his 40- time and thus his prospects.

You could move him to safety, have him cut 5+ pounds, but then he’s just a taller/slower safety. Trevon Moehrig would be about the same size and a better athlete at the position…ditto Caden Sterns, among others.

His real purpose for existing is his quick (not elite, just good) feet/lateral movement dropping into coverage and cutting side-to-side in coverage with 4.6-4.7 40-time running tight ends. If you put him on 4.4 running WRs, he’ll be left in the dust. So, you want an NFL team to burn a 1st-round draft pick on a

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2021 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

APRIL 14, 2021

guy who covers tight ends in the passing game well…but God help him (and your team) if the TE makes the catch because that 245+ pound brick wall isn’t going down easily to a 221-pound thin framed ‘grabber’.

I watched JOK against Alabama and Clemson 2x in 2020…I saw the same thing – I saw nothing to get excited about. Is he NFL-worthy…does he have a place in the NFL? Yes, sure. Is it as a highly drafted prospect you spend millions on? Absolutely not. Your team is bad at evaluating football things from a business standpoint if they take Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in the first 100 picks or so. It’s about as stupid as the Cardinals passing on Pro Bowl level offensive tackles and cornerbacks to take Isaiah Simmons in the 2020 NFL Draft because they got embarrassed in covering the tight end in 2019. The Simmons pick will go down as one of the major downfalls of the Kingsbury administration, when he gets fired in a year or two…not because of Simmons himself, just what they passed on to draft a coverage OLB instead.

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is a very poor man’s, a generic…a scratch-and-dent sale, a Goodwill store version of Isaiah Simmons.

Owusu-Koramoah is a nice, smart young man. He has no flaws off the field. It’s just he’s a ‘tweener’ at so many spots in the NFL and he’s kinda mediocre athletically – I just don’t see any reason for his hype.

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Through the Lens of Our OLB Scouting Algorithm:

-- Played a ‘Will’ linebacker type position for Notre Dame, with no true position, so he got to float around and blitz the backfield some and got TFLs off it in some games but not that many sacks. He’s not a real pass rush guy…he just blitzes the backfield on run plays a lot which helps his numbers.

#9 in the ACC in TFLs in 2020 season (and he got to play 12 games where others were much fewer than that).

-- 2020 Defensive Player of the Year in the ACC…I have no idea why or how.

He wasn’t in the top 10 in the conference in tackles or sacks or PDs or INTs…just #9 in TFLs. And all that ‘meh’ plus he played more games than just about anyone in the conference except Clemson players.

If Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was the best defensive player in the ACC in 2020, then no wonder Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne have good output numbers…

Good thing most of the real top players on defense across the land opted-out…helping JOK move forward, I guess?

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2021 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

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-- One more thing about his athleticism…

Not a smooth athlete. Runs around with his arms flapping. He’s full of effort but it’s not smooth going forward. He moves east-west smoothly enough. Otherwise, he just flaps around the field not making much of a difference. He doesn’t look like a smooth, natural athlete…except he is good moving east- west.

2021 Pro Day:

6’1.4”/221, 8.8” hands, 33” arms

4.15 shuttle, 6.80 three-cone (these are good numbers that back up the tape)

36.5” vertical, 10’4” broad jump

Skipped: 40-time, bench

The Historical OLB Prospects to Whom Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah Most Compares Within Our System:

JOK comps with similar college players/physical frames of the past who went on to do nothing in the NFL. That’s not comforting for whatever team drafts him 1st-round…

OLB Last First Draft College H H W Tackle Spd Pass Grade Yr Strgth Agil Rush Metric Metric Metric 6.032 Owusu-Koramoah Jeremiah 2021 Notre Dame 6 1.4 221 6.57 8.06 7.01 5.368 Cravens Sua 2016 USC 6 0.0 226 6.52 8.54 6.10 4.012 Johnson Jovon 2016 Ohio 6 0.5 219 6.61 8.10 5.52 3.573 Bullitt Terrance 2014 Texas Tech 6 2.4 226 7.03 8.88 7.95 6.965 Hall Nate 2019 Northwestern 6 2.2 225 7.47 8.16 5.01 6.154 Foster Reuben 2017 Alabama 6 0.0 229 7.70 6.09 4.27 7.062 Roberts Tyler 2016 Troy 6 1.4 224 7.64 9.68 7.52 8.686 O'Daniel Dorian 2018 Clemson 6 0.5 223 7.23 11.90 10.13

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2021 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

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*A score of 8.00+ is where we see a stronger correlation of LBs going on to become NFL good/great/elite. A score of 10.00+ is more rarefied air in our system, and indicates a greater probability of becoming an NFL elite LB.

All of the LB ratings are based on a 0–10 scale, but a player can score negative, or above a 10.0 in certain instances.

Tackle-Strength Metrics = A combination of several physical and performance measurements. An attempt to classify the LB prospect's ability to stop the run, as well as a gauge of how physical the player is and the likelihood of higher tackle counts in the NFL. All based on profiles of LBs historically.

Speed-Agility Metrics = A combination of several speed, agility, and size measurements...as well as game performance data to profile a LB for speed/agility based on LBs historically. A unique measuring system to look for LBs that profile for quickness, pass-coverage ability, and general ability to cover more ground.

Pass Rush Metrics = A combination of the physical measurements, but also proven on-field ability to get to the QB/backfield in college.

2021 NFL Draft Outlook:

I pulled three websites to sample his draft rankings…#17, #21, #26. You gotta be kidding me. But I know the NFL scouts/execs follow the herd, not the other way around…so, no doubt Jeremiah Owusu- Koramoah will be a 1st-round pick.

If I were an NFL GM, JOK is not on my board seriously. He would have to fall to day three and then some.

NFL Outlook:

Will get taken highly, and not start for his team but be brought along slowly…and then by October and next year at this time – no one even remembers why they were so excited about him.

He’s likely be a role player, and a draft disappointment when people look back in time.

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2021 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

APRIL 14, 2021

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Signature______Date______4/14/2021

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