'14 OH DT Daniel Cage (Notre Dame Signee)

[zelezo vlk]

Did he give a reason why?

He took a year off to get healthy and probably wouldn't be an impact player. Good luck to Daniel

 

[Irish YJ]

88

 

[dublinirish]

Did he give a reason why?

health reasons i am guessing plus lots of talented underclassmen coming through.

 

[PANDFAN]

and i would imagine he is also very unlikely to be in "football" shape as he had conditioning issues in the past

 

[stlnd01]

Mike Frank on ISD podcast said Cage is not coming back and the staff does not want him back.

“Staff does not want him back”? Sounds a little harsh. I know we’ve got young guys coming up but what’d Cage ever do wrong?

 

[Old Man Mike]

What if this is out of context? How would the statement "Because of the potential for lingering health problems, neither Daniel nor the staff want him to risk coming back" change the air?

 

[ab2cmiller]

The elephant in the room is that we are at 89 players even without Cage and have to get down to 85. I'm certain that the coaching staff made the determination about Cage not coming back during the time that they were deciding on how many recruits to take in the 18' cycle.

This would appear to be one of the easier decisions the ND staff had to make in an effort to get down to 85.

 

[IrishLax]

Cage was never going to be coming back. Coupled with the health issues were some effort/dedication issues. With us having a full roster including young guys that contributed at DT it made it clear there wasn't even a reason to put him back on the roster even if he was healthy and wanted to.

 

[NDMIA]

I heard this too on the podcast and was disappointed to hear it phrased that way. The way Frank said Cage isn't coming back made it sound like the staff had zero interest in him returning and didn't want him back at all. Made it sound like a negative for him not playing football again. I hope it was a simple misunderstanding of how it was phrased because Daniel Cage was a tremendous student athlete at Notre Dame and his football career came to an unfortunate end, but I hope he excels at something else in life.

 

[Luckylucci]

Cage was never going to be coming back. Coupled with the health issues were some effort/dedication issues. With us having a full roster including young guys that contributed at DT it made it clear there wasn't even a reason to put him back on the roster even if he was healthy and wanted to.

This.

While I wish Daniel nothing but the best, he's not going to help this team win games. He hasn't been in football shape since 2015. 2016 he was a big body on the field and that's it. I highly doubt he's miraculously gotten in better shape without being a part of the S&C program.

What's interesting is that for a guy that's best season consisted of 18 tkls, 4 TFL's, and 0 sacks. Fans have been really hung up on him coming back. At one point, I think it was general consensus that he could grow into a starting caliber player, but that was a long time ago. Time to move on.

 

[zelezo vlk]

This.

While I wish Daniel nothing but the best, he's not going to help this team win games. He hasn't been in football shape since 2015. 2016 he was a big body on the field and that's it. I highly doubt he's miraculously gotten in better shape without being a part of the S&C program.

What's interesting is that for a guy that's best season consisted of 18 tkls, 4 TFL's, and 0 sacks. Fans have been really hung up on him coming back. At one point, I think it was general consensus that he could grow into a starting caliber player, but that was a long time ago. Time to move on.

I think Cage and a few other players were robbed of productive years due to the lackluster S&C. Yeah Cage was lacking in effort, but he wasn't helped by Longo either. I bet he'd be a much more productive player with Balis and a new DC

 

[stlnd01]

This.

While I wish Daniel nothing but the best, he's not going to help this team win games. He hasn't been in football shape since 2015. 2016 he was a big body on the field and that's it. I highly doubt he's miraculously gotten in better shape without being a part of the S&C program.

What's interesting is that for a guy that's best season consisted of 18 tkls, 4 TFL's, and 0 sacks. Fans have been really hung up on him coming back. At one point, I think it was general consensus that he could grow into a starting caliber player, but that was a long time ago. Time to move on.

I think a year ago at this time we looked so so thin at DT that people were latching onto any warm body we could find to provide rotational depth. Now the picture is different.

 

[Luckylucci]

I think a year ago at this time we looked so so thin at DT that people were latching onto any warm body we could find to provide rotational depth. Now the picture is different.

I realize why some people were concerned but that doesn't mean that it was the right thought process. In 2016 Cage wasn't a productive player, and I've been saying for awhile, even when others were concerned, that in his 2016 form, he would provide very little value to the 2017 DL. Which held true last year.

Until he proved to be able to get into healthy football shape, there is no reason to have him on the roster. Wish him nothing but the best but this shouldn't even be a discussion. We got the same production from Hinish as a freshman in 6 games, as Cage did in 6 games as a Junior.

 

[dublinirish]

I think Cage and a few other players were robbed of productive years due to the lackluster S&C. Yeah Cage was lacking in effort, but he wasn't helped by Longo either. I bet he'd be a much more productive player with Balis and a new DC

he might not have survived the Balis regime tbh, could have ended up like Tiassum

 

[zelezo vlk]

he might not have survived the Balis regime tbh, could have ended up like Tiassum

Yeah that's quite possible