Discipline Key for Notre Dame & Safety DJ Brown
Notre Dame safety DJ Brown will have a homecoming of sorts this weekend as the Fighting Irish travel to Baltimore to take on Navy at M&T Bank Stadium.
Brown grew up in Annapolis, which is about a 45-minute drive up I-97, and the graduate student is looking forward to having several family members and friends attend Saturday’s game.
“I’ve got about 30 family members coming, which should be good, and a couple friends that are on the edge of coming or not because they’re in college right now,” stated Brown earlier this week. “We’ll see. I’m excited through.”
The opportunity to play close to home has actually helped Brown dial back in following last weekend’s win over Clemson as he wants to put on a good show.
“Honestly, right after the Clemson game,” Brown said of how quickly he thought about returning to the East Coast. “A lot of my family members were just congratulating me on the win but also, ‘Make sure you get us our tickets’ and things like that. So literally when I woke up on Sunday, that was the first thing that was on my mind.”
In fact, Saturday will likely be a special moment for Brown as his late father was a season ticket holder for the Ravens.
But he wouldn’t always take Brown.
“One of his friends used to go with him a lot,” Brown laughed. “Whenever his friend couldn’t make it, he would bring me along, which was always cool. Just seeing guys like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed run out that tunnel growing up, it’s going to be awesome to see and just be on the field, be in the stadium I always grew up watching the Ravens.”
Saturday will also be important for Notre Dame as Brown has been part of big wins in the past and he’s also been part of less than inspired teams following those wins.
As a veteran, the 6-foot, 200-pounder is doing all he can to make sure the Irish don’t have a letdown in Baltimore.
“It’s hard, but I’ve also been part of big wins and the next week we come out flat,” explained Brown. “It sucks coming out flat to a team that you know you should be beating by a lot. I’ve been a part of those games as well. Just that fear of not being in that situation again drives me forward to start preparing for the next opponent.”
Navy could be the perfect opponent for the Irish to face as the triple-option always gains the attention of the defense as it’s rarely seen and Notre Dame already knows how difficult it can be to stop.
For Brown, it comes down to being disciplined and making sure he helps in the run game when able.
“It’s all about eye discipline,” stated Brown. “Just doing your job. As long as you’re locked in on your job, you’ll be able to read the pass. You know Navy’s run-first, but the way they catch their opponents off-guard is just by passing the ball.”
Defensive coordinator Al Golden has seen Brown make a jump this fall and it’s led to more game reps.
Golden is also counting on Brown’s experience against the triple-option to show up this week.
“He’s working really hard,” Golden said. “He’s preparing hard and practices well. He’s talented. He’s got range, long speed and I think he’s really worked hard on his tackling and that’s shown up a lot.
“Those would be the elements and that’s going to be the challenge for him this week. He’s going to have to tackle really well in the ally and have great eye discipline.”
It’s very clear the win over Clemson gave Notre Dame confidence and now the next step is to bring that execution every week.
“We had confidence going into the game, but that gave us more confidence that we can beat anybody in the country,” said Brown. “Coach Freeman has been saying probably for the past two weeks: We’re the best team no one really knows about yet. Just seeing that come to fruition really means a lot for this team and the confidence of the guys, just knowing we can compete and beat pretty handily some of the best teams in the country.”
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