Khalid Kareem Pleased with Pro Day, Excited for Notre Dame's Future
Khalid Kareem made his return to the football field on Sunday afternoon as the former Notre Dame defensive end conducted a private pro day.
The Michigan native had surgery in January to fix a torn labrum and was pleased with how his workout went.
"I felt I did well," Kareem stated. "I haven't really worked out or trained like that in a while. It was good to get back on the field and move around a little bit."
The 6-foot-4, 268-pounder will send film from Sunday's session out to NFL teams as Notre Dame's pro day canceled and NFL personnel can't travel to watch workouts.
"I'm probably at around 65 percent," said Kareem. "I gave all I had and I felt really good with it."
Kareem's father, Ken, has been involved throughout his son's career. In fact, the two would practice swim moves when passing each other in the hallway in the house during high school.
And it came full circle on Sunday when Kareem was able to put his son through an almost two-hour workout.
"We both started our football journey together when I was around six," Kareem said. "To pretty much end my amateur career with him was special.
"Having my why and my motivation right there definitely helped."
The NFL Draft is still on for the end of the month despite the coronavirus pandemic and Kareem is focused on improving the health of his shoulder before camp.
"I'm really working out and trying to stay in shape," explained Kareem. "I'm going to rehab for my shoulder twice a week. That's pretty much all I can do with everything shut down."
Kareem was at the NFL Combine, but wasn't able to participate in drill work. However, he was able to go through formal interviews and several teams have remained in communication.
"I would say most teams are staying in contact," Kareem stated. "I probably had 15-20 calls in the past week. A lot of teams are interested and still calling me.
"They ask how I'm doing, but they're trying to get to know me and who I am. Most of the calls are teams who wanted me to come on visits. We're also talking scheme and position work."
Teams also can't fly prospects in for visits, so Kareem has been being tested over Zoom and FaceTime by coaches.
"Some teams have shown me their defense in action and talked through some stuff," explained Kareem. "They will then ask me to draw it up and see how I retain information. Some teams have shown me my previous clips from the past as well."
Kareem will be playing on Sundays this fall, but don't think he won't be watching his guys on Saturday.
And he expects more than a few guys to step up (outside of Daelin Hayes and Ade Ogundeji) in 2020.
"I will say Ovie (Oghoufo) will definitely have a big year," said Kareem. "Justin and Jayson (Ademilola) will have a big year. I feel guys are sleeping on Kurt (Hinish) and Myron (Tagovailoa-Amosa). They’re going to wake some people up this year."
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