Blue and Gold Illustrated

UNDER THE DOME Connecticut, and the Irish were scrambling to find bodies in the defensive interior. He took his official visit to Notre Dame Jan. 22, and two weeks later opted for the Irish over longtime front-runner Michigan State. "It was actually quite shocking when Notre Dame wanted to recruit me again," Cage told Blue & Gold Illustrated shortly after signing. "Coach Diaco didn't like me. I wasn't tall enough." Because of the graduation of Louis Nix III and Kona Schwenke, and the early departure to the NFL by Stephon Tuitt, playing time was available in 2014. Cage took advantage by appearing in 11 games (one of six Irish true freshmen to do so), but missed the home finale versus Louisville because of a knee injury (he also dressed for the Music City Bowl, but did not play). He was credited with four tackles while undergoing a huge learning curve, especially when it came to stamina at the college level. "Last year, he would give us a couple of plays — and then fatigue would lock up his brain," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. "He would be in the wrong gap. … A lot of that had to do with the inability to maintain the mental awareness of what he was doing because he was fatigued. He's in much better condition. "He's so much more mature, understands our defense so much better. He was always off the charts in terms of his strength and foot quickness. Now he's bringing a lot of that for much more of the game in terms of number of plays." Adding to Cage's surprise ascent was that once Jones suffered his injury, it was assumed, at least on the outside, that Tillery would automatically step in because he had a strong spring in place of Jones (who sat out while recovering from Lisfranc surgery) and took virtually all the reps with the first team. However, Kelly stated that Cage's progress was good enough to merit the start. "He's a really good player and he's going to play a lot, and we need him to be in there for us," Kelly said of Tillery. "But Daniel has definitely shown that he should be listed ahead of Jerry right now." Part of it, though, is that Tillery cross-trained at the three-technique, where he is expected to give Day a breather on occasion. "We've asked Jerry to do a lot more and that's not necessarily an easy thing to do as a true freshman, but he's pretty unique," Kelly said. "We needed that." With Tillery helping both at nose guard and three-technique, chances are he and Cage will share a similar number of snaps. "I think you will not know, as you watch the game, you won't be able to count up, 'Well, Cage played more than Tillery,'" Kelly said. "It's going to be pretty seamless."

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