Those Notre Dame Rumors Just Got Real
This just went from a rumor that was everywhere on Notre Dame boards to a three-alarm fire. The rumor: four Notre Dame players were going to be suspended for the year for some variety of academic fraud. Precisely the four players rumored were just absent from Notre Dame practice:
A foursome of Notre Dame veterans was not seen leaving the Irish practice field Friday afternoon. Cornerback KeiVarae Russell, defensive end Ishaq Williams, linebacker Kendall Moore and wide receiver DaVaris Daniels were not among the players who exited the LaBar Practice Field Friday.
Notre Dame did not respond to questions about their absence.
And Pat Forde reports that ND is investigating some academic fraud:
Yahoo Sports sources: investigation into academic fraud underway at Notre Dame, football players (as well as regular students) part of probe
— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) August 15, 2014
That's Notre Dame's top corner (Russell), wide receiver (Daniels), and defensive end (Williams) plus a backup linebacker. Russell and Daniels were on track to get drafted after this season if they entered the draft early; Williams has been a bit of a disappointment after being a five-star recruit.
There were also rumors that ND was going to vacate their 2012 wins over this, which I don't buy since that actually matters to the Irish and UNC just got off scot free for a scandal which I'm just assuming is infinitely worse than whatever tempest in a teapot the Irish are flagellating themselves for.
UPDATE: Bruce Feldman confirms that all four players have been dismissed, whether temporarily or permanently.
UPDATE II (ACE): According to the South Bend Tribune, this could go beyond current players:
A source told the South Bend Tribune the scale of alleged fraud is comparable to the highly publicized case at the University of North Carolina and that a former player or players could be tied in as well.
Repeated attempts for comment and clarity from Notre Dame officials have gone unanswered.
The scope of this is growing by the minute, it seems.
UPDATE III: Notre Dame just released a statement on the matter.
Note: A news conference at 6 p.m. [ET] today will be streamed live on the University’s website, news.nd.edu, and the athletics website, www.und.com.
The University of Notre Dame is investigating suspected academic dishonesty on the part of several students, including four members of the football team. Because of the potential for NCAA violations, the University notified the NCAAtoday, and the four football players will be held out of practice and competition until the conclusion of an ongoing investigation and the University honor code process. Any possible academic dishonesty by other students will be addressed appropriately.
This part may also be relevant to your interests.
That investigation is ongoing. If it determines that the student-athletes would have been ineligible during past competition, Notre Dame will voluntarily vacate any victories in which they participated.
There's also a rumor going around that up to 22(!) current or former players could be involved; thus far that's uncorroborated, however.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:22 PM ^
Cowherd is a troll. Don't feed trolls.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:23 PM ^
Haha, I love reading this guy's twitter.
August 15th, 2014 at 3:12 PM ^
at the high school level in the sec (cooking the books first [I assume he left 'cooking' out on accident]) so they can play football (second) for the college of their choice... okay, there's academic fraud there, too. Whatever, we went over him being stupid, right?
August 15th, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^
as I interpreted 'books' as the money kind, not the 'learnin is for Yanks' kind
August 17th, 2014 at 1:51 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 2:14 PM ^
Not so much.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:14 PM ^
Lennay Kekua must have been taking exams for the dismissed players.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^
In another thread, Mabel Pines brilliantly termed this as "ghost writing". It was well-played there, so I'll toss it up here.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:41 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^
I hadn't read the other thread, but I just looked it over and yes--it was basically the same exact joke but Mabel Pines deployed it with impeccable timing and wording. Hat tip to him.
August 15th, 2014 at 3:11 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 4:08 PM ^
keeping tabs on that sort of thing, which I do.
"I think Michigan should stop playing notre dame" is second.
Up votes regardless of the post for her for a few days, considering you can only upvote a post once and it was that good.
August 15th, 2014 at 5:52 PM ^
Sorry for using "him" instead of "her." I'm normally careful about that kind of thing--and yet I manage to blow it despite ample clues from your user name and avatar. Anyway, best regards.
August 15th, 2014 at 4:48 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 2:16 PM ^
I think Michigan should stop playing ND.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:40 PM ^
But leave it open to play them again in the future...
August 15th, 2014 at 2:20 PM ^
So, Michigan regains the highest win%, right?
August 17th, 2014 at 1:58 PM ^
Vacate, Baby, vacate.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^
I see a nice, tasty Notre Dame ass kicking coming on 9/6.
Man, what a great way that would be to close this series.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:22 PM ^
I'm going to give a slow-clap to ND on this one. Took their lumps to the detriment of their football team. They're still reprehesible turds barely above Ohio and Sparty, but they seemingly did the right thing here.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:29 PM ^
Im more than happy to give them props for acting on this while still being ammused at their misfortune.
August 15th, 2014 at 5:49 PM ^
Don't know if you've noticed, but there's a new sheriff in town over there. I don't get the sense that he's too keen on his fellow priests forgetting that their first priority is not football, the American kind or otherwise.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^
Oh, right. Damn you, Swarbrick.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:35 PM ^
Because half of my family is Irish-Catholic and I have many friends and neighbors (including the guy directly across the street from me) who went to or cheer for ND, this news is...I don't know a strong enough word. Immaculate.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:37 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 2:50 PM ^
I'm like giddy over here. I'm gonna check the mail repeatedly until my neighbor comes out of his house. I want to be the one to tell him.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^
My dad is a Notre Dame fan. I broke the news to him.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:49 PM ^
he stopped watching football before I had memories (he used to break stuff).
He didn't take the news well either.
Whoops.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:40 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 2:42 PM ^
"A source told the South Bend Tribune the scale of alleged fraud is comparable to the highly publicized case at UNC." http://t.co/bjUXoAqnSF
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) August 15, 2014
August 15th, 2014 at 2:46 PM ^
It keeps getting better. It can't get better enough.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:54 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 3:00 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 3:42 PM ^
I must dislike ND a whole lot more than you then, because I take literally tons of joy (thousands of pounds of joy) out of this. If I had a daughter, I'd change her name to joy. ND's misfortune increases my joyousness.
August 15th, 2014 at 4:15 PM ^
That latest tweet by Ace (up to 22 former/current players) blows everything else to this point out of the water (or it leat puts the "as bad as UNC" comment in perspective)
August 15th, 2014 at 2:53 PM ^
Yowch. If this turns out to be accurate, the voiding of the victories in 2012 sounds a bit more plausible.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:44 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 4:06 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 4:13 PM ^
not just the football team. I think it's a done deal as far as these four players are concerned.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^
According to Twitter, reports are coming out that this is bigger than 4 players. Like UNC big.
August 15th, 2014 at 2:52 PM ^
August 15th, 2014 at 2:54 PM ^
but, hard for me to believe that a person or people could have to run at ND the kind of thing that was going on at UNC. Or worse. Have to believe there is some public announcement today; get it out late Friday, and hunker down and figure out your next steps over the weekend.
August 17th, 2014 at 2:02 PM ^
The beauty of it is, it does not have to be as bad as UNC. Just bad enough to restore the highest winning % of all time back to its rightful place.
August 15th, 2014 at 3:00 PM ^
I'll be in South Bend (for a wedding) on Saturday (tomorrow). I'll keep a sharp eye out for self flagellating ND Fans......
August 15th, 2014 at 3:00 PM ^
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