Notre Dame Football: JOK rated best coverage LB in 2021 NFL Draft
By Brad Weiss
Notre Dame Football has had the luxury of having Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah the past few years, and one NFL team is getting a special player in coverage.
The Notre Dame Football program will see their star linebacker selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, most likely, when the draft kicks off on April 29. For the past two seasons, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has been as dominant a linebacker as there is in college football, capping his career with a magical final season in South Bend.
Leading the Irish to an undefeated regular season, and a spot in the College Football Playoff, Owusu-Koramoah was named a unanimous All-American. Also, JOK was named the Butkus Award winner, and the Defensive Player of the Year in the ACC, a conference Notre Dame football was forced to play in during the pandemic.
As we inch closer to the first round, we are seeing all the rankings come out in terms of draft prospects, and it is no surprise that JOK is consistently mentioned among the best linebackers in this draft.
Notre Dame Football star named best coverage linebacker in 2021 Draft
Recently, Pro Football Focus listed the superlatives for all the linebackers coming out this year, and while Penn State’s Micah Parsons took home a lot of the honors, it was JOK who came in as the most versatile coverage linebacker in 2021. This is a guy who was rated No. 2 in all of college football in coverage in the slot and to do so as a linebacker is quite impressive.
In today’s NFL the ability to cover the slot is paramount, as teams like to use a lot of underneath throws to set up the big plays deep. Having a linebacker like Owusu-Koramoah is like having another defensive back, but one who has the size to come up and wreak havoc as a tackler as well.
Notre Dame Football: JOK lands in top-10 of latest 2021 NFL Mock Draft. dark. Next
There is no doubt that JOK will be a first-round pick this year, as some mock drafts even have him landing in the top-10, most recently to the Denver Broncos. Whoever gets him is getting an elite and versatile player, as well as one of the more NFL-ready players in this draft class.