As Notre Dame welcomed the Stanford Cardinal to South Bend for its most recent matchup in their storied rivalry, the Irish defense looked slightly different than usual.
Senior and transfer cornerback DJ McKinney was taking over for fellow cornerback Leonard Moore, who was missing just the third game of his career.
Filling in for an injured teammate, even a Jim Thorpe finalist, didn’t faze McKinney.
“Just making sure the guys around me in my position group are prepared because you never know who's going to go down and who's going to go down during the season. You got to always have that next man mentality.”
With Notre Dame’s 58-7 win over Stanford, the Irish are sitting at 6-0 for the first time under Marcus Freeman.
However, the Irish are now set to travel to Provo, Utah to take on the no. 8 BYU Cougars in prime time.
McKinney is inviting the challenge.
“A lot of us were looking forward to it, you know, so as soon as the Stanford game was over, we were already on to the next,” said McKinney.
A top ten road matchup with College Gameday in attendance is a big stage and McKinney is making sure he is locked in himself and with his teammates.
“Just making sure I'm locked in,” said McKinney. “Making sure, you know, I'm reading my keys, making sure my teammates, everybody's on the same page because if we're not on the same page there's going to be some type of disconnect out there. We're all just making sure we're staying on the same page, locking in and just making sure we take care of one another.”
However, McKinney is already familiar with the BYU program from his time spent in the Big 12 with Oklahoma State and Colorado.
“Oh, they're always definitely going to be a good coached team, you know,” said McKinney. “And they're also, you know, they show good sportsmanship also, you know, they'll help you up after a play, even though you won't play for teams, but at the end of the day they're still going to be a dogfight between us.”
Another part of BYU that McKinney is familiar with is Cougar quarterback Bear Bachmeier.
McKinney and the Buffaloes lost a close game to the Cougars where Bachmeier led BYU with 98 rushing yards.
That dual-threat ability will have to be accounted for by the Irish defense and McKinney is ready for the challenge.
“Playing a dual-threat quarterback, I feel like, you know, you've got to always make sure you're on top of your keys,” said McKinney. “Where the running back's positioned, certain formations that they like to run into, run this type of play, so I would leave it just to come down to making sure you're on top of your keys.”
A new addition to the Cougar’s roster is freshman wide receiver Legend Glasker, who leads BYU with 378 yards receiving.
The Irish defense and McKinney know they have to be aware of where Glasker is on every down.
“Just making sure you know where he's at at all times,” said McKinney. “Making sure we know where their key targets are. Make sure he starts with the first and really every down.”
One concept the Cougar offense could use to get Glasker the ball is on a simple bubble screen.
However, McKinney prides himself on being able to blow up bubble screens and being tough for a wideout to block.
“Once I see an initial bubble, I start to process it,” said McKinney. “In my head, I'm just thinking, oh yeah, it's go time, you know. I pride myself on not being able to be blocked by a single receiver. So, if I see that, I'm taking it on full speed. I'm just running through ‘em, trying to make a play.”
Maybe that ability comes from McKinney’s time playing linebacker as a younger football player and watching highlights of Baltimore Ravens’ Hall of Famer, Ray Lewis.
“At a young age, I was playing linebacker,” said McKinney. “I was probably the smallest on the field, but my dad told me to embrace it. Just always have that dog mentality no matter what position I'm playing. And so, playing linebacker, I wanted to see how it really details up. I used to watch a lot of Ray Lewis highlights, which helped with the mentality part and just going out there and being a dog.”
Those highlights taught McKinney a valuable lesson when being physical on the football field even as a smaller player.
“Really just go out there and just run through somebody's face,” said McKinney. “Like, I guess that's a Marshawn Lynch quote, but I feel like it also applies in that sense also. Just never be as scared, not even if you're the smallest on the field.”
McKinney doesn’t just pride himself on playing with power and blowing up bubble screens, though.
Finesse has also been a major part of McKinney’s game, so much so that it became part of his nickname.
“That's been with me since my freshman year of college,” said McKinney. An older guy at Oklahoma State, an older DB, he saw me go through some of my drills and he kind of said I was moving with the finesse in the drill. I've always been just really skilled doing my drills out of a young age. Just started nicknaming me Finesse. I just added the Finesse Way to it and it stuck.”
Now, with Notre Dame looking to advance to 7-0, McKinney’s dripping in finesse and power as he and the Irish defense look to slow the Cougar offense on Saturday.
