Aaron Henry and DJ McKinney Found the Same Thing at Notre Dame

New Notre Dame defensive backs coach Aaron Henry was asked on Saturday at Notre Dame’s fall camp media availability what has stood out to him about the program since he arrived earlier this year. His answer had nothing to do with the new state-of-the-art facilities or anything that’s happened on the field. In his first camp running the Irish secondary, Henry went straight past the football part of the answer and reached for his own family to explain the culture Marcus Freeman has built at Notre Dame.

“Coach Freeman creates an atmosphere that’s unlike any other atmosphere I’ve ever been a part of,” Henry said. “My children have probably been to his house more than they’ve been to Walmart, right?”

Henry opened the answer with a line he attributed to Freeman: Notre Dame will change your life if you let it. “I’ve never had so many people reach out and ask for tickets in my life,” Henry said. “I got a family of four and we only get four.”

Henry expanded on the culture Freeman’s built talking about how often his kids have been to Freeman’s house. “The last time they went, they didn’t want to go home. So that’s a problem,” he joked.

He extended it to the defensive staff under coordinator Chris Ash, the group he joined this offseason after stops in the SEC, ACC, and Big Ten. Those stops give him plenty to compare this one against.

“I ain’t got to be nobody but myself. And when you have that kind of chemistry with this staff and this brotherhood, you want to work your tail off for leaders like that.”

Henry Is Building the Same Feel With His Room

Asked separately what he had learned about his position group from spring through the first few days of camp, Henry started with the coverage installation, where a second time through the new calls has made them clearer to the players. He got to the rest of it quickly.

“Had a chance to have them over my house where they hang out with my girls,” Henry said. “And so, I just think naturally when you spend more time with people, the connection grows.”

Notre Dame had just finished day three of camp when he said it. Henry says camp is where you find out how each guy operates, what sets him off, and where the teaching has to change from one player to the next. Time spent outside the meeting room is how he says he gets there faster.

DJ McKinney Sees It From the Player Side

DJ McKinney arrived as a portal addition from Colorado and stepped into a cornerback room that already had All-American Leonard Moore, Christian Gray and his 21 career pass breakups, and a large group of young defensive backs. Asked what the Notre Dame experience has been like, McKinney landed in the same place his position coach did. McKinney said the brotherhood registered with him the moment he got to campus, and that everything since has been amazing.

McKinney said the freshman defensive backs are the group he has bonded with most, mainly because they keep asking him questions about his previous programs and about what he has learned on and off the field.

He also said his football IQ jumped in the first week he was on campus, and he credited the people around him for it. Moore, coming off a season with 48 tackles, 11 pass breakups, and two interceptions, was the first name he mentioned.

“I learned so much my first week just being at Notre Dame,” McKinney said. “Really just my IQ, my football IQ went up.”

“Just being around guys like Lenny, how he watches film, how he diagnoses certain formations out on the field, and then just being around my coaches, Coach Henry, he knows a lot,” McKinney said. He added that Henry played under Ash at a previous stop and knows the ins and outs of the defense.

A Deep Corner Room Still Has to Sort Itself Out

On the choice to enter a room this deep rather than go somewhere a starting job was waiting, McKinney said he does not run from competition. The way he described the room sounded like what Henry had said about the staff.

“It’s with these guys, it’s always competitive, but it’s never combative. We all got love for each other.”

Notre Dame has more corners than it has snaps to give them, and the sorting starts over the rest of camp. Moore and Gray have already shown what they are. Jayden Sanders arrived via the portal along with McKinney this offseason. Sophomores Dallas Golden and Mark Zackery cut their teeth as freshmen last year.

Behind all of them are freshmen still asking questions between periods, which is the part Henry has to handle one player at a time. By September, the third and fourth corners will be on the field in games that matter, and holding up there means playing the coverage installation at the same speed Moore and Gray do without a call having to be repeated. If the teaching takes, Notre Dame can rotate without changing what Ash is willing to call.