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Born 29 July 1989 · Penn High School class of 2008
The tie, exactly: born and raised here, on the record of the program he played for. Notre Dame's official athletics record lists him as "Cave (Granger, Ind./Penn H.S.)" — hometown Granger, school Penn — and the standard reference record gives his birthplace as Granger. One regional piece calls him a "Mishawaka, Ind. native," and the discrepancy is printed rather than hidden: it is the school-city shorthand, the same postal-seat confusion this section exists to correct, and it fails against Notre Dame's own listing. His schooling is the Penn-Harris-Madison pattern this whole build documents: a Granger boy whose high school stands across the line in Mishawaka.
The course: at Penn, Cave was named to the Indiana Top-50 All-State team, played in the 2008 Under Armour All-America Game, and was rated among the nation's top centers. At Notre Dame (2008–2012) he played 48 games with 35 starts at center and took third-team Associated Press All-America honors in 2012; he played in the Senior Bowl. Undrafted in 2013, he signed with Cleveland and spent 2013–2015 on the practice squads of the Browns, Patriots and Redskins before Detroit signed him to its active roster on 30 December 2015. His is this band's athletic entry at its true size: a hometown lineman who reached the league's edge and its roster, from a suburb that produces linemen the way it produces everything else — through Penn's program and Notre Dame's.
Sources:
- University of Notre Dame athletics (fightingirish.com) — the "Granger, Ind./Penn H.S." listing, the 48 games and 35 starts, the watch lists.
- Notre Dame Insider, 3 September 2014 — the 35 starts and third-team AP All-America honors; Regional Radio Sports Network — the 2008 Penn graduation, the All-America Game, and the Detroit signing (with the "Mishawaka native" phrasing discussed above).
- NBC Sports, 16 January 2013 — the Senior Bowl invitation, "the local Granger product."