'14 OH DT Daniel Cage (Notre Dame Signee)

[Crazy Balki]

Diaco is just getting around to offering class of '15 recruits, nevermind freshmen.

Yep, he's still trying to find those 6'6 270 pound linebackers that run a 4.4 forty. What better place than UConn!?

 

[PANDFAN]

Daniel Cage is thrilled about starting the next chapter of his life, which will begin when the 2014 Notre Dame defensive tackle signee from Cincinnati reports to South Bend for his first season of college football on June 14th.
“I’m excited,” the former Winton Woods High School star said. “It’s a new experience.
“I’ve been looking forward to a new experience, going somewhere away from home for that long is a new experience and I’m looking forward to it.”
Cage has been doing Irish strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo’s workout since National Signing Day in February and the 6-foot-3 prospect has put on about 15 pounds, going from 295 pounds to 310.
“It’s hard at first, but it gets easier as the weeks go on,” said Cage.
Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston and the rest of the Irish staff say they need Cage coming into camp ready to go.
“They said when I come up there, I’m going to play,” said Cage. “The only way I won’t play is if I go up there and just do terrible, so I’m looking forward to playing.”
The opportunity to play his way onto the field has Cage fired up.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “I want to come there and show them exactly what I can do and my work ethic. I’m going to give it my all.”
The Cincinnati native is eager to show the Irish staff his power and speed while embracing the challenge of picking up the college game and adjusting to a lifestyle change. Cage isn’t too worried about adjusting to college life.
“I don’t think I’ll have too many hard adjustments,” he said. “I wake up by myself and wash my own clothes. Just being away from home is going to be the hardest adjustment.”
He has two main goals for his first year away from home; one on the field and one off.
“I want to start,” he said. “That’s my goal. That’s my main goal and to make Honor Roll.”
Ready To Report: Daniel Cage | Irish Sports Daily

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Daniel Cage is thrilled about starting the next chapter of his life, which will begin when the 2014 Notre Dame defensive tackle signee from Cincinnati reports to South Bend for his first season of college football on June 14th.
“I’m excited,” the former Winton Woods High School star said. “It’s a new experience.
“I’ve been looking forward to a new experience, going somewhere away from home for that long is a new experience and I’m looking forward to it.”
Cage has been doing Irish strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo’s workout since National Signing Day in February and the 6-foot-3 prospect has put on about 15 pounds, going from 295 pounds to 310.
“It’s hard at first, but it gets easier as the weeks go on,” said Cage.
Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston and the rest of the Irish staff say they need Cage coming into camp ready to go.
“They said when I come up there, I’m going to play,” said Cage. “The only way I won’t play is if I go up there and just do terrible, so I’m looking forward to playing.”
The opportunity to play his way onto the field has Cage fired up.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “I want to come there and show them exactly what I can do and my work ethic. I’m going to give it my all.”The Cincinnati native is eager to show the Irish staff his power and speed while embracing the challenge of picking up the college game and adjusting to a lifestyle change. Cage isn’t too worried about adjusting to college life.
“I don’t think I’ll have too many hard adjustments,” he said. “I wake up by myself and wash my own clothes. Just being away from home is going to be the hardest adjustment.”
He has two main goals for his first year away from home; one on the field and one off.
“I want to start,” he said. “That’s my goal. That’s my main goal and to make Honor Roll.”
Ready To Report: Daniel Cage | Irish Sports Daily

FIFY, kind of. Thanks as always, PAND. But if all the things this kid says are in his heart. watch out! There used to be a TV show where a character always said, "No brag, all fact!" Now we have a specific metric to follow this kid. If he even comes close to his goal, we have a champion! A real fian!

 

[ResLife Hero]

Seems like the linemen coming in this year have all benefited greatly from Longo's program. Nelson, Hayes, Mokwuah and Cage have all claimed significant strength and weight gains already. Tranquill has as well though he won't be playing on either line.

 

[Irish#1]

He must have really impressed the coaches if they expect him to get meaningful minutes as a freshman. Lack of strength is usually what holds OL & DL kids from playing as freshmen.

 

[GoldenToTheGrave]

He must have really impressed the coaches if they expect him to get meaningful minutes as a freshman. Lack of strength is usually what holds OL & DL kids from playing as freshmen.

 

[rtrn2glory]

he's playing in the Ohio/Michigan Border Classic this weekend.

Practicing 15 minutes from my backdoor.

think i'm gonna go check it out.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

he's playing in the Ohio/Michigan Border Classic this weekend.

Practicing 15 minutes from my backdoor.

think i'm gonna go check it out.

Give us the down-low!

 

[rtrn2glory]

i will do what i can.

 

[rtrn2glory]

didn't see him at yesterday's practice.

talked to one of the games organizers and they said that a lot of guys picked to play are having to back out b/c their college coaches don't want them to risk injury. Mentioned Tuberville at Cincy was a huge advocate of this mentality....my gut tells me that BK may be taking a similar stance with Cage.

sucks for the coaches that are counting on the kids to play, but i can see both sides of the story at the same time. if you're counting on a dude coming in and contributing you don't want something freak to happen a week before he's expected to report.

Link below shows he's not on the updated roster for the game on Friday:

Updated Ohio roster for 2014 Ohio-Michigan Border Classic - cleveland.com

 

[BleedBlueGold]

But he's a project player...

I think you can track Longo's "pre-college" work out regimen back to Lynch and Tuitt's class. IIRC, that class of freshmen came in jacked from top to bottom and they all credited it to the workouts they received via Coach Longo after NSD.

I'm looking forward to some camp video and seeing how our new guys come in and contribute. Especially guys like Cage who the coaches already seem very high on.

 

[ResLife Hero]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Irish Eyes intern Will Slattery talks to Incoming Irish DT, Daniel Cage -- both sides of him…
<a href="http://t.co/EIwQINjZ5g">http://t.co/EIwQINjZ5g</a></p>— Tim O'Malley (@timomalleyND) <a href="https://twitter.com/timomalleyND/statuses/478176549825683457">June 15, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Redbar]

I am guessing he has a little brother, Jerron Cage, same High School, who was #18 on the most impressive list at the rivals 250 underclassman challenge. He is said to be a little small right now for DT and a little slow for outside, but should fill out nicely as he gets older for DT. He is class of 2017 and was said to have a non-stop motor.

 

[dwshade]

TJ has said that Cage is one of the most impressive of the FR. from a physical standpoint and will definitely play this year.

 

[ResLife Hero]

Still can't believe we were able to land this kid at the last minute. From everything we've heard he's going to have a solid career for us, but meaningful minutes this year would exceed my expectations from February.

 

[dwshade]

TJ also says Blankenship, Hill and most of OL are standing out from a physical standpoint. Says Watkins, Weishar, Tranquill and Morgan have impressed in summer workouts.

 

[TheChosen1]

In the podcast today Pete Sampson also heard Great things on Cage and Watkins

 

[Fbolt]

Good to hear-I want more prepared DL.

 

[MrIrishCanadian1]

I passed by Cage today. Didn't expect that he would be as big as he is--i.e. he looks like he's got a lot of excess, bad, weight. If you said he's 320 lbs., I would believe you.

 

[NDdomer2]

I passed by Cage today. Didn't expect that he would be as big as he is--i.e. he looks like he's got a lot of excess, bad, weight. If you said he's 320 lbs., I would believe you.

Can't be bad weight as he has supposedly been one of the most physically impressive frosh. Sure it wasn't Mokwuah?

 

[stonebreakerwasgod]

I've learned not to rely on Frosh who aren't at WR or RB. Strength and conditioning are huge when going up against guys who are 4th and 5th year players.

 

[MrIrishCanadian1]

Can't be bad weight as he has supposedly been one of the most physically impressive frosh. Sure it wasn't Mokwuah?

It was definitely Cage. I assume that having a big ol' gut isn't such a good thing. He looks more like Nix-2011 than Nix-2013.

 

[Wild Bill]

It was definitely Cage. I assume that having a big ol' gut isn't such a good thing. He looks more like Nix-2011 than Nix-2013.

If it can penetrate an A gap or control a double team 15 to 20 times per game, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Ndaccountant]

It was definitely Cage. I assume that having a big ol' gut isn't such a good thing. He looks more like Nix-2011 than Nix-2013.

Koon coming to comment on Longo in 3,2,1......

 

[GBdomer]

I believe you saw him today OP. But I really doubt he is up to 325

 

[ulukinatme]

I've learned not to rely on Frosh who aren't at WR or RB. Strength and conditioning are huge when going up against guys who are 4th and 5th year players.

Bingo. Freshman at the skill positions can ween their way onto the field sooner than later if they prove to be an athletic upgrade over the current roster. However, you don't want large numbers of them on the field at the same time, that just means you're rebuilding or your previous classes weren't very good. A good program builds and allows the athletes to grow in the S&C program while adjusting to the speed of the game for a few years. This time is especially important for linemen and certain defensive positions.

 

[koonja]

Koon coming to comment on Longo in 3,2,1......

I give Long-slow the benefit of the doubt since Cage just recently got to campus. I've never been a fan of the shape of our front 7 as a whole in his time here. Too big, too slow, and make Purdue look like freaking Oregon.

I think he got 'bigger, faster, stronger' confused with 'bigger, fatter, stronger'.

Need more abs.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I give Long-slow the benefit of the doubt since Cage just recently got to campus. I've never been a fan of the shape of our front 7 as a whole in his time here. Too big, too slow, and make Purdue look like freaking Oregon.

Need more abs.

Ugh...

The DL was supposed to be big to control the line and allow the LB/secondary to make plays. None of them were groomed to be speed rush specialists. They more than did their job.

 

[koonja]

Ugh...

The DL was supposed to be big to control the line and allow the LB/secondary to make plays. None of them were groomed to be speed rush specialists. They more than did their job.

There are other teams that run a 3-4 and their defenses are more athletic. My biggest issue is that it seems our LBs for the most part have gotten abused in space while Longo has been here.

I won't get into this cause it upsets a lot of people that I don't love Longo. And I'm not saying he's terrible, but I don't love him like everyone else and would be A-Ok if he was replaced with new blood.

 

[Booslum31]

There are other teams that run a 3-4 and their defenses are more athletic. My biggest issue is that it seems our LBs for the most part have gotten abused in space while Longo has been here.

I won't get into this cause it upsets a lot of people that I don't love Longo. And I'm not saying he's terrible, but I don't love him like everyone else and would be A-Ok if he was replaced with new blood.

I agree Koon. Not so much about your opinion on Longo as a whole but the relative speed of oue LB's. There were times last year when we couldn't stop the "dink and dunk" where apposing QBs were getting rid of the ball very quickly and our LB's were slowly chasing. Before Grace went out for instance he really struggled against the pass IMO. "Abuse in space" is something that will happen from time to time but faster/quicker LB's is what I'd like to see.