SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- As Notre Dame worked throughout late July and August pre-season camp to carve a more defined, established hard-edge persona, members of the Fighting Irish secondary were particularly challenged to ratchet up their physicality.
A story leaked out about sixth-year, graduate-student safety D.J. Brown having met an Irish tailback in the hole at the 2-yard line and immediately dropped him with a punishing hit.
Friendly fire, sure, but an foundational approach for an Irish team that has carried College Football Playoff aspirations through the first quarter of its season, along with a No. 9 national ranking, ahead of next Saturday’s top-10 showdown inside Notre Dame Stadium against sixth-ranked Ohio State.
Turns out, Fighting Irish coach Chris O’Leary had helped illuminate the safeties’ efforts with ongoing slideshow presentations that featured cats and dogs.
A “cat” rep is soft; a “dog” rep showcases grit, physicality, toughness.
“Yeah, so, Ronnie Regulla (Notre Dame’s senior defensive analyst) and I were just trying to figure out a way to instill that violence we talk about,” O’Leary said. “We can talk about it and get on them when they don’t get off a block violently, or strike in the alley, but we wanted a tangible way to do it.
“So, we started every meeting with that as a light-hearted way of reminding them ‘Hey, if you get put on your back, or you miss a tackle, you’re going to be on that clip, and nobody wants to be on that cut-up.”
Though it started in preseason camp, O’Leary’s “cats” and “dogs” have remained an in-season fixture to now include gameday footage.
”It’s going well,” said Brown. “(Xavier Watts) had a couple ‘dogs’ in the (North Carolina State) game. (Thomas Harper) and I had a couple ‘dogs’. Ramon (Henderson), too.
“There’s not many ‘cats’ anymore, especially when the game hits. Everybody is locked into being physical. Not a lot of ‘cat’ reps. It’s mostly just ‘dog’ reps.”
Second-year Irish coach Marcus Freeman, who has exuded an edgier presence that his team has embraced, hadn’t been overly versed in the world of O’Leary’s ‘cats’ and ‘dogs’, but he endorsed the spirit.
“I don't know a lot about ‘cat’ and ‘dog’ reps; I don't spend a whole bunch of time in a O'Leary's room,” Freeman said. “But that's a unique way of creating competition, it sounds like to me.
“I'll have to ask him about that when I get back to the office, about the ‘cat’ and ‘dog’ reps. But it sounds like you want to be a dog. Right? Yeah, that's right. It's a good description.”
Brown recalled one “cat” rep during preseason camp.
O’Leary quickly learned his players had begun to track their own reps – for both categories.
“Guys come up to me during practice and say, ‘I had a ‘cat’ rep; I already know it’s going to be on there,’” O’Leary said. “And then when they have a ‘dog’ they make sure I see that ‘dog’ rep.
“It makes it fun.”