Notre Dame star LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah declares for NFL Draft

As Andrea Adelson explained for ESPN, Owusu-Koramoah won the Butkus Award given to the man deemed the country's best linebacker and ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors. He recorded 61 total tackles, three forced fumbles and 11 tackles for loss during his final season at Notre Dame. 

On Dec. 17, ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. shifted Owusu-Koramoah from No. 16 to No. 9 on his 2021 big board. 

"With a stellar ability to find the ball and react and with the speed to cover tight ends in the passing game, Owusu-Koramoah just keeps rising in my rankings," Kiper explained at that time. "He's a perfect fit for today's NFL because he's a three-down off-ball linebacker with sideline-to-sideline speed." 

In mock drafts updated over the weekend, Ryan Wilson and Josh Edwards of CBS Sports, along with Walter Football, listed Owusu-Koramoah as a first-round pick. Charlie Campbell of Walter Football compared Owusu-Koramoah to one-time Pro Bowl linebacker Telvin Smith. 

"Owusu-Koramoah is the best pass-coverage linebacker in the 2021 NFL Draft," Campbell wrote. "He has good speed and covers a lot of ground in zone coverage, plus has the ability to run down the middle seam."