INDIANAPOLIS -- Julian Okwara is ready to cash in on all of the perks that come with being a little brother if the Detroit Lions were to pair him and Romeo Okwara on the same defensive line.

“It would be awesome. I actually messed around with him the other day and I was telling him I was moving in and I’m not going be the one paying rent,” Julian said on Thursday from the NFL Scouting Combine. "I told him I’ll sleep on the couch a little bit, and he’s going to build me a room or something like that. It would be cool. Going into high school, I was hoping that we’d kind of play together, but that didn’t end up happening. College, hoping that we’d play together but that didn’t happen again. It would be cool to play against him or with him. That would be a cool little moment right there.

“I’m not splitting (the rent) either, he’s going to have to take care of everything (if I’m in Detroit) because that’s what older brothers do, they take care of their younger brothers. I’ve always wanted to play with him, so it would be an honor."

Irish alum and current NY Giants DL Romeo Okwara on the sidelines tonight to cheer on his brother, freshman DL Julian Okwara.#NDFamily pic.twitter.com/3WVvoqpBGs — Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 1, 2016

Julian continues to work his way back from a broken left fibula suffered in Notre Dame’s win over Duke in early November last season. This leg injury, though, is just another obstacle to overcome for the pass rusher from Lagos, Nigeria.

This injury will keep him from competing in all of the drills at the NFL Scouting Combine, but he says the injury made him fall in love with the game even more.

“That’s my first real injury, and to be able to go through that kind of opened my eyes,” he said from the podium on Thursday. "I think it made me fall in love with the game of football a lot more, knowing that I would come back and do it all again. I have no regrets about that. I want to be the best defensive end in the country, and I don’t think I could let something as small as that hurt me and stop me from what I want to accomplish and what I want to be in the future.

“It sucked at first, but I’m grateful to be here and grateful to be in the position that I am. I think God has a plan for me and my future. Just another step in the road I need to get over, and that’s what comes with football."

In four seasons in South Bend, the younger Okwara put up 15.5 sacks and 24 tackles for loss. He’s projected as a potential early-round pick, which is a different path than Romeo’s experience as an undrafted free agent.

Romeo played his first two seasons in the league with the New York Giants but signed a two-year deal with the Lions in March 2019.

“So, him being undrafted he’s had a different path from me – hopefully, I get drafted,” Julian said. "He just kind of taught me to work hard from afar, I think it went unsaid, but just looking at him the way he went about his business. He had to work for every single year he’s been in the league. Going into his fifth year, that’s something that’s not common with a lot of guys.

“The path we’ve taken from Lagos, Nigeria. We don’t expect to be here. I don’t expect to be on this podium right now. I went back there this past summer and just looking at some kids begging for food on the side of the street. I’m just grateful to be here and the sacrifices my parents made for my brother and I and my sister to be here in this moment. I’m thankful for it all.”

Romeo put up 7.5 sacks in his first season with the Lions but registered only 1.5 this past season in 14 games. Detroit’s pass rush as a whole was nearly non-existent in 2019. With Snacks Harrison out, and A’Shawn Robinson and Mike Daniels set to hit the free-agent market, there is a ton of uncertainty moving forward. The Lions spent $90 million on defensive end Trey Flowers last year, but the team has some major holes to fill as they continue to rebuild their defensive line.

Julian said he believes his brother is in a better place now, but that he needs to “worry about me and what Julian Okwara needs to do.”

“I’m very fluid in my movements,” he said from the podium. "I’m able to rush a three-tech, in a five-tech. My speed and strength combination are very misleading to people. When I was about 220 pounds, I was doing the same thing. A lot of guys wonder where my strength coming from. I think Nigerians got some extra muscles some people don’t have. Guys always laugh about it, talking about how Nigerians always built differently. I’m actually starting to believe it now because somehow Romeo is a lot bigger than me even though we eat the same amount of food.

“He likes rice, so I’m forced to like rice, too, because he’ll get what he wants from our mom. I’ll eat whatever really. We eat whatever, my mom makes a lot of food. He’s actually opened me up to a lot of like Asian foods, foods I wouldn’t eat a lot. He made me eat squid one time, it was all right. Octopus, that was another different one, still feel like the tentacles are in my throat sometimes."

Related: Lions’ Romeo Okwara on the rice that fed his childhood

JULIAN OKWARA WITH ANOTHER STRIP SACK!!



ADE OGUNDEJI WITH THE SCOOP AND SCORE!!!



IRISH UP 28-17!!! pic.twitter.com/gqbCrI1low — ND Whiteboard (@ND_Whiteboard) September 28, 2019

Julian says he’s been training out in Phoenix, and while he’s unable to run the 40-yard dash, he’s made sure to tell the other defensive line prospects how lucky they are that he can’t. He said he should be cleared for more activity “soon" but that’s as far as specifics went.

Pro Football Focus sent Julian to the Oakland Raiders at No. 19 in its most recent mock draft. PFF notes the edge rusher out of Notre Dame received a 90.4 pass-rush grade before his left leg injury. His grade from the analytics site improved with each of his four seasons in college.

“I think I offer a lot of versatility being able to cover guys and get after the passer,” Julian said. “I think that’s what is unique about me, is that I’m able to do a lot of things other guys can’t.

“So when I got injured, a lot of stuff started going around about who Julian Okwara was. It’s definitely a chip on my shoulder because it feels like a lot of guys forgot about who I was. I know who I am and what I bring to the table, so I’m not really worried about it.”