BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is a man of many nicknames.
His goal is to become an impact linebacker of many skills.
The Browns’ 2021 second round pick is called J.O.K., Jock, Wu and of course his actual name by teammates, coaches and staffers. The variety keeps him on his toes.
“I’m alright with all of them,” Owusu-Koramoah said Wednesday. “I’m not a picky guy ‘Hey don’t call me that.’ I’m a pretty chill guy when it comes to the names as long as it’s nothing disrespectful.
“I just have to be attentive to the syllables and make sure I answer when I’m called.”
Owusu-Koramoah’s first NFL season was paused at the outset of training camp due to COVID protocols.
Fortunately for the second-round pick he remained asymptomatic after testing positive.
“It stayed that way all throughout the 10 days.” Owusu-Koramoah said.
“It was a downer, of course, but you’ve always got to control the things you can control, and that was something I couldn’t control at the time, so you’ve got to press through it and persevere through it.”
Despite not being able to be with his teammates, Owusu-Koramoah remained locked in, and he got a little creative doing it too.
Owusu-Koramoa used fruits and dumbbells to set up alignments while working off the play sheet and attending meetings and walkthroughs virtually.
He returned Tuesday and went through individual drills.
Wednesday he got his first taste of team drills, albeit limited as the Browns don’t want to push him too hard too fast right out of the gate.
The former Notre Dame linebacker felt he used his down time wisely which has already helped him integrate himself within Joe Woods’ defense.
“It was actually a time I took advantage of, being able to open up the playbook even more and watch a lot of the practices and watch a lot of the games,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “It wasn’t a time where I had a setback or anything.”
Starting out defensive coordinator Joe Woods has Owusu-Koramoah at WILL linebacker, working primarily on the edge, but versatility is critical within his defensive scheme and plenty of opportunities to move around should present themselves.
“He’ll be a little bit more on the edges of the defense and he’ll also be matched up in certain things – matched up to use his really good skillsets of coverage, blitzing and all of those things,” linebacker coach Jason Tarver said. “So not being specific in naming a position – because all of our linebackers pretty much play them all when it’s all said and done and we need everybody and that’s how we approach it.”
An aggressive physical player at Notre Dame, Owusu-Koramoah is excited to bring that to the Browns defense. He believes his time with the Fighting Irish has prepared him for the intensity of the NFL.
“The schedule was vigorous,” Owusu-Koramoah. “The schedule was not only just within our realm in which we played, but we had games in Cali, we had games in Virginia, so we were able to get a lot of exposure. It helps a lot. Anytime you go to a D-I program that has a high schedule and as high exposure as Notre Dame, you're going to be prepared for the next level.”
Expectations are sky high for the Browns this year, and Owusu-Koramoah’s ready for those too.
“You have an organization in South Bend that’s very prestigious in terms of its history, same here,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “You have high expectations with the people waiting for it to go escalate. Same with Notre Dame. They’re expecting you to win. They’re expecting you to win here and the fans want what they want and the team wants what they want. I kinda see it in the same light in terms of my perspectives.”
Expectations come with the job description.
Living up to them is something Owusu-Koramoah tries to keep in perspective when setting his own.
“First you set team goals because you are going to be on the team,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “You’re stepping into an organization that’s looking to build the culture so the first goal you set is as a team or as yourself is for the team then you set individual goals like rookie of the year or defensive player of the year and things like that. You always set goals. You write them down for the month on your walls or put them up on the ceiling, whatever you can do to make sure that you have those things in sight.”