He was the headlining signee in ‘95 but had his acceptance withdrawn due in large part to arrest/conviction for being involved in a fight. He was ok at football.
Myth.
Moss was NEVER accepted academically by ND Admissions.
In '95 Lou tried to finesse two academically unqualified recruits past Admissions, Moss and a 5 star RB who IIRC went to Miami. ND Admissions Director, Kevin Rooney, took a firm line and without his Imprimatur NO applicant nor recruit became an ND student. Keep in mind at ND the emphasis in the term student/athlete is on the first word. Back in those day an offer was not actionable UNTIL Admissions signed off and they had not done that for these two recruits.
This was not the first run-in between Holtz and Football (Full Time) Recruiting Coordinator Vinny Cerrato and ND Admission. They had battled for most of Vinny's years at ND. There was acrimony beneath the surface. Circa 1990 head coaches at other programs jealous of Cerrato's success at recruiting and Lou's success on the field
with Vinny's recruits got an NCAA rule passed prohibiting a Full Time Recruiting Coordinator position which Cerrato was at ND. Nicknamed, The Cerrato Rule, it required Recruiting Coordinators to be a full time Position Coach. The ND Administration did not oppose the rule as they were not pleased with some of the recruits Cerrato had brought in nor with him "trying to work" Admissions. Cerrato's last recruiting class graduated ND after the '93 season concurrent with ND's downhill slide on the gridiron.
In '95 Lou tried again for a Hail Mary on Signing Day. Rooney, put his foot down, Malloy, Beauchamp, and Wadsworth concurred. This was one of the issues in Lou's departure two years later.I think it was about a year later that Lou made a comment at a presser that ND was just 2 players short of being a prime time contender. He didn't mention names nor positions but those aware of the back story knew he wasn't generalizing nor talking about "The 85 Scholarship Rule". He specifically meant the two rejected as academically unqualified for ND in the Class of '95.
I wrote an article on the situation back then for the Irish Recruiting Journal. I had several solid sources familiar with the incident including one on the football staff and one in Admissions. Some years later Murray Sperber wrote about the incident without this much detail in "Shake Down The Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football". Sperber pointed out that 1995 incident underscored the distinction of Notre Dame from the football factories. It still does.
And for those who whine annually about more lenient academic admission requirements keep in mind that the ND academics improved dramatically during the tenure of Father Ted and Monk Malloy. ND has one of the finest tutoring programs which helps athletes who skipped through high school academics to adjust to and succeed in the highly competitive ND classroom environment for those who apply themselves. I believe Rooney did not see that commitment in those rejected. I suspect they would have been academic transfers after their first semester.
