The Irish Roundup

Per GoshenGipper:

Today during his press conference Charlie Weis mentioned that Robert Hughes has been excused from the team for as long as he needs after the sudden death of his brother. His uncle will be picking him up from campus today. Our prayers go out to him and his family.

More on this as it unfolds. Let’s keep everyone involved in our prayers.

[UPDATE (10:54am): Here’s what Weis said, right at the start of his press conference:

Well, before we get going on Navy, earlier today we received some bad news, that the brother of Robert Hughes, Tony Hughes, official name “Earl,” he died unexpectedly. We don’t have all the details at this point, but Robert, I excused him a little while ago, his uncle came and got him to bring him home, to go be with his family. He’s obviously upset, and I just want Robert and his family to know that the whole Notre Dame family has their family in our thoughts and in our prayers. I really don’t have any more details, so I really am not at liberty to talk about it, but I know his mom called me, and she was shook up, and obviously when I told the - when I told Robert this morning he was shook up, so you know, he’ll be gone for a little while. I told him as much time as he needs, I don’t know how long that’ll be, but when he gets back he gets back. Obviously there’s more important things, and that’s right now to be with his family. Not to start on a solemn note, but because I don’t talk to you guys again until after practice tomorrow, I felt it was important to address it on the front end right here and then move on to Navy.

The video is here.]

[UPDATE (12:56pm): The Chicago Tribune’s ND sports blog is on the story now.]

[UPDATE (6:49pm): The transcript of Weis’s presser is up now, with this one exchange that wasn’t included in my original post:

Q. And as far as Robert Hughes and when he comes back, do you proceed as if you’re not going to have him on Saturday?

COACH WEIS: I told him come back whenever he’s ready to come back. I mean, something like that, how can you give him a time frame? He might be back tomorrow, he might be back next week. I told him whenever — I just made sure we covered ourselves with academics and things like that. But when something — a tragedy like that happens, I think the most important thing is you have to worry about the kid, not worry about him as a football player.]

[UPDATE (Weds., 5:41am): In case you hadn’t heard, it turns out that Hughes’s brother was shot and killed on Chicago’s West Side (link):

Earl Hughes had worked until about 10 p.m. Monday at EFT Sports Performance in Highland Park, where he was a trainer for teenage athletes.

He returned home about 11 p.m. and left about 12:30 a.m. He was killed soon afterward, said his uncle EJ Jones.

A witness said she heard an argument and shots fired, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

“It’s horrible,” Jones said. “We are 100 percent confident this was not drug- or gang-related. He was never in an altercation. . . . We think this has to do with some kind of triangle relationship.”

Earl Hughes’ only arrest was for disorderly conduct in 2000, police said.

He was the father of a 1-year-old daughter and one of eight siblings.

Earl Hughes was a role model for his younger brother, Robert. They last saw each other Sunday when Robert came home to visit.

“Robert wanted to be like his brother,” said Jones, who was a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1984-85 season.

“His brother was big in sports and probably had more natural talent than Robert, but did not take advantage of his opportunities,” Jones said. “His brother worked out with Robert and pushed him. He did not want Robert to make the mistakes he did. He wanted Robert to make the big time.”

Still, Earl Hughes was a proud big brother who attended all of Notre Dame’s home games.

Robert Hughes has a touchdown and has rushed for 42 yards on 16 carries so far this year. The 5-foot-11, 238-pounder rushed for 5,734 yards in his four-year career at Hubbard High and was considered a top running back recruit.

Earl Hughes had attended Joliet Junior College, where he was an outstanding basketball player, his uncle said.

Recently, Elias Karras hired Earl to work for him at EFT Sports Performance. He knew Earl and Robert Hughes because they both worked out at the facility last year.

Earl Hughes had made the first cut of an Arena Football League tryout last year, but did not wind up playing, Karras said.

“I hired him to do maintenance and entry-level work, but immediately realized he should be helping us train our junior high, freshmen and sophomore kids,” Karras said. “He became an assistant trainer in a month. I was going to sign him up to take him for his personal-training certification class.”

Karras said he wasn’t able to tell Earl Hughes’ students about his murder.

“The kids loved him,” he said. “We just said he was not here today. I didn’t know what to say.”

Again, please keep everyone involved in close prayer.]

Tags: Charlie Weis, Robert Hughes

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 9:01 am and is filed under News and Notes, Players. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.