Ohio State's Jerron Cage Not Reminiscing On Touchdown, Focused On Next Opportunity

"We have more plays to do, more teams to play and more opportunities to be better."

While Ohio State fans will be talking about Jerron Cage’s 57-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Penn State for quite some time, the fifth-year senior defensive tackle has already moved on from the play.

“I’m not going to sit here and glorify it,” Cage said during his media availability on Wednesday evening, noting he still has more than 700 unread text messages on his phone from that night. “Shoutout to Zach (Harrison) and Tyreke (Smith) for getting the ball out. They made the play, I just finished it.

“Moments like these, you just have to stay humble. You can’t let it get to your head too much because it’s not just about me. It’s (about) my team. It’s exciting, but it’s nothing to dwell on. It’s something to recognize that you did and move on. We have more plays to do, more teams to play and more opportunities to be better.”

Still, the touchdown was the culmination of four-plus years of hard work for the 6-foot-2 and 305-pound Cage, who has seen his playing time increase with each season since he arrived in Columbus as a four-star prospect from Cincinnati Winton Woods.

After redshirting his freshman year, Cage played in three games in 2018 and 12 games in 2019, though most of the defensive snaps came in the second half of games well in hand as he sat behind the likes of DaVon Hamilton, Robert Landers, Tommy Togiai and Antwuan Jackson.

Then, in the midst of a pandemic-shortened year, Cage finally got his first career start when Togiai contracted COVID-19 ahead of the College Football Playoff National Championship against Alabama and played in a career-high 32 snaps in the loss to the Crimson Tide.

“My road to where I am right now was just long and stressful, but I’m just grateful,” Cage said. “Sometimes it isn’t going to go your way, but if you keep going at it over and over and over again, you’re going to get it.”

Cage points to two very specific moments where thing started to click for him on the field, including the birth of his son in June 2020 and a conversation he had with Togiai leading up to the national title game.

“I knew and my coaches knew exactly what I had in me,” Cage said. “I could feel myself getting better and better, but where that thing switched all the way was when Tommy called me and he was crying. I felt the love. I felt his pain, so I just know it was time to go.

“You really underestimate playing for your brothers until you actually do it, so it was just a great moment.”

Cage noted how his son, 1-year-old Jerron Jr., was in attendance for Saturday’s game against the Nittany Lions. He was apparently asleep when the play happened, though.

“I don’t know how because it was so loud in there,” Cage said, “but when he gets older, I’m just going to tell him to just keep going at stuff. Just keep pushing yourself to get what you want.”

Moving forward, Cage’s role will continue change as he splits time at nose tackle with the likes of Jackson, redshirt junior Taron Vincent, sophomore Ty Hamilton and freshman Tyleik Williams. But no matter how much or how little he plays from game to game, he hopes his teammates will use his story as motivation.

“I feel like I’m a guy that people look to for leadership,” Cage said. “I see the best in a lot of players, and I want them to see the best in themselves. The college experience gets hard and you’re going to hit the wall, so just having somebody there for you is the biggest thing.

“Then just being there for them, you can feel the love back. That’s exactly what was shown on the sidelines on Saturday.”

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