Notre Dame Football All-Decade Team: Defensive End

The next Notre Dame All-Decade group doesn’t get the fanfare of some of the program’s consistently elite groups, but the defensive end position — along with the defensive line as a whole — is starting to produce top notch talent on a regular basis.

These four guys are a big example of that. Two are 2019 graduates and 2020 NFL draft prospects, while the other two are NFL veterans. Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem are coming off some of the best defensive end years in recent memory. Stephon Tuitt was an elite college player, and has turned that into a really productive NFL career and big time contract with the Steelers. Romeo Okwara was underrated at Notre Dame and during his NFL draft process — going undrafted. However, he has produced when given the chance the last several seasons, and he is who we start with.

Romeo Okwara (2012-2015)

The most annoying part of the older Okwara’s career is the fact he was never able to redshirt, because if he did he likely enjoys two very productive seasons in South Bend and ends up a middle round draft pick. Instead, he was a role player for the majority of his college career and never fully developed until late. Even with that, his senior year was outstanding and likely worthy of a draft selection. In his last 23 games in an Irish uniform he accumulated 12 sacks and 17.5 tackles for loss. Nine of those sacks and 13.5 of those TFLs came in his outstanding senior season that left Irish fans wondering what could have been with one more year.

He is a different type of an athlete than his brother Julian, comparing more to a Khalid Kareem type of player. Okwara would go undrafted in 2016 and played his first year in the NFL with the Giants at age 21. Now with the Lions, Okwara has 9 sacks over the last two season in Detroit. In 2018, he started 14 of 15 games he played, but has played more of a reserve role this year.