Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS Considered one of the top 30 pros- pects nationally in the 2013 class, Big- gio initially trimmed his list to four schools: Virginia, Stanford, LSU and Notre Dame. He eventually settled on UVa and was committed there for four months, but the pull of extending his career with his older brother, then a sophomore at Notre Dame, grew stronger leading up to National Sign- ing Day. Biggio eventually flipped his com- mitment to the Irish, hoping to con- tinue the success he, his brother and father (as a coach) shared at St. Thomas High in Texas, where they won back-to-back 5A state champion- ships in 2010 and 2011. "We were always playing catch, al- ways around each other," Biggio said. "Winning those state championships was a huge moment for our lives, and that's probably a big reason I came here. "I went on my visit to Virginia, and I really loved the coaches and program there, but I just felt at home at Notre Dame. My heart was here." Even though Biggio was experi- enced in facing top-ranked pitchers from his prep days, his transition to South Bend and the ACC didn't start without some bumps in the road. As a freshman he managed only 46 hits in 187 at-bats in 2014, a .246 batting average. "Last year was the first time I've ever struggled offensively," Biggio said. "I asked my dad, asked coaches what to work on, asked what am I do- ing wrong? It was a weird moment in my life where I felt like I was doing the right thing, but I wasn't getting the results. So I started from the ground up, and toward the end of the season I found my swing. "You have to just keep working, sometimes even hit off the tee, start from basics. What's your base? Are your feet in the right spot? Are your hands in the right spot? You just keep working at it." In addition to leading the team in batting average, Biggio was pacing it in on-base percentage (.529) and slug- ging percentage (.759). He finished only a home run shy of the natural cy- cle in two consecutive February wins over Oklahoma, helping the Irish to a 2-1 series victory. Irish head coach Mik Aoki knew of Biggio's high ceiling, and said he's proud of his player for battling through those initial challenges. "Rather than succumbing to or be- ing defined by the adversity that he faced last year, he fought against it," Aoki said. "He used this summer to get around some really good players. He saw some guys that were incred- ibly talented and were working really hard, and I think Cavan has learned from that. I think this has been a part of the maturation process for him that a lot of freshmen go through." Now that he's starring for Notre Dame on the field, comparisons to his Hall-of-Fame father are inevitable — but Biggio maintains he doesn't feel any internal pressure to live up to his dad's career. "I feel like I can carve my own path, and that comes from my dad too," Biggio said. "He always told me, 'You