Notre Dame LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah Wins Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week
DALLAS (FWAA) – Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah had nine tackles, two tackles for losses, a half-sack and a scoop-and-score as No. 4 Notre Dame stopped No. 1 Clemson’s 36-game regular-season win streak with a dramatic 47-40 overtime win. His fumble return, plus a forced fumble on the next possession that led to an Irish field goal, earned him the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week honor for games in the weekend of Nov. 7, as selected by the Football Writers Association of America.
This is the sixth time for a Notre Dame player to earn this weekly honor and the first time since 2018. Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o (2012) is the only Irish player to win the Bronko Nagurski Trophy. Shane Walton, a cornerback, was an Irish finalist in 2002.
Owusu-Koramoah, a 6-2, 215-pound senior from Hampton, Va., came up with three of the highlight plays in the game. In the second quarter, he returned a Clemson fumble 23 yards for the first touchdown of his career. It was the Fighting Irish’s first defensive score of the season and gave them a 10-point lead. Three plays later on Clemson’s ensuing possession, Owusu-Koramoah forced another fumble recovered by Notre Dame cornerback Nick McCloud, which led to an Irish field goal and their biggest lead of the night at 23-10.
Notre Dame held its 47-40 lead with the spotlight on its defense going into Clemson’s second overtime possession. Owusu-Koramoah had a second-down sack and another on the next play by Daelin Hayes to push the Tigers back to a fourth-and-24, two plays that essentially clinched the win.
Owusu-Koramoah’s nine tackles tied for the team lead against Clemson and he is now second on the team with 35 total tackles, 24 of them solos, to go with 1.5 sacks, the fumble recovery, two quarterback hurries and an interception. The two TFL’s against Clemson pushed Owusu-Koramoah into a tie for 18th nationally with 8.5 tackles for loss and just short of the top 10, which all have 10.0 or more.
Owusu-Koramoah was the last Irish player to have three sacks in a game, doing so against Iowa State in last year’s Camping World Bowl. The last Irish player to have 4.0 sacks in a game was defensive tackle Jerry Tillery against Stanford in 2018, a big game that earned him the Nagurski Player of the Week Award that week and become the last Irish player to win it.
The win was Notre Dame’s 23rd in a row at home – the nation’s second-longest streak – and the ninth in program history over an AP-No. 1 team. The Irish travel to Boston College for a 3:30 p.m. ET game Saturday on ABC.
2020 Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Players of the Week
• Weekend of Sept. 5: Isaiah Kaufusi, LB, BYU
• Weekend of Sept. 12: Curtis Ryans, DE, Georgia Tech
• Weekend of Sept. 19: Tavante Beckett, LB, Marshall
• Weekend of Sept. 26: Jahron McPherson, S, Kansas State
• Weekend of Oct. 3: Bumper Pool, LB, Arkansas
• Weekend of Oct. 10: Nick Bolton, LB, Missouri
• Weekend of Oct. 17: Grant Morgan, LB, Arkansas
• Weekend of Oct. 24: Nick Andersen, S, Wake Forest
• Weekend of Oct. 31: Joseph Ossai, LB/DE, Texas
• Weekend of Nov. 7: Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, LB, Notre Dame
Photo credit: UHND.com; No. 6 Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah