They are still on scholarship as far as I know, and until they are done with football, they are counted toward the 85 scholarships. That's why Alabama and the other teams have been shady in their dealings; if a kid gets hurt and can't perform up to standard, they offer him the opportunity to just leave the program while retaining an academic scholarship. The gain is that they would get scholarships back, but ND does not operate like that. Clelland may be done for good though, so he might open a scholarship up but he would have anyway. I don't think he's a fifth year, but I don't think he'll be getting a fifth even if he's eligible. In short, this doesn't really affect ND like it could at other schools. A player being out for the season at ND frees nothing up.
