How about some news on the situation.
Notre Dame's five suspended players scheduled to conclude hearings next week - Elkhart Truth
Notre Dame's five suspended players scheduled to conclude hearings next week
The end of Notre Dame’s ongoing academic probe is in sight and the five players involved will likely know their fate just before Stanford arrives at Notre Dame Stadium.
Rachel Terlep
Posted on Sept. 23, 2014 at 12:57 p.m.
The end is in sight for Notre Dame’s ongoing academic probe.
Head football coach Brian Kelly said he was told — if all goes to plan — honesty committee hearings for KeiVarae Russell, DaVaris Daniels, Ishaq Williams, Kendall Moore and Eilar Hardy will wrap up next week. The five players are at the center of Notre Dame’s academic fraud investigations.
“Friday of last week, I was informed that the academic committee has been formed officially and that they will — if all things move in the manner that they’re hoping and that they’re able to get through all of the information — that the five student-athletes will get their hearings concluded by the end of next week,” Kelly said Tuesday, Sept. 23.
If that timeline is accurate, the five players should know their fate before the Oct. 4 home bout with No. 16 Stanford (2-1). Kelly has stated in the past that if any of the five players are cleared, they’ll be eligible to play immediately.
It’s been a long and arduous process for the university, the football program and fans. The school said the Office of General Counsel launched an investigation immediately after being presented evidence of academic misconduct July 29.
Russell, Daniels, Williams and Moore have been sidelined since Aug. 15, while Hardy was suspended Aug. 28 — the day Kelly announced the university had concluded investigations. The players are expected to miss their fourth straight game this season.
When asked if he had an opinion on the investigation’s timeline, Kelly flashed a brief smile and said, “I don't have an opinion, and I really wouldn't want to share it publicly."
Kelly said Notre Dame is wading through uncharted territory and that he’s talked with athletic director Jack Swarbrick about improving a process like this one.
”It's a very complicated situation, obviously,“ Kelly said. ”There are a lot of pieces here. There are NCAA implications, certainly. We're probably going down a path that has never gone before, so there are things there.“
When Notre Dame first announced the academic investigation, university president Rev. Jon Jenkins, C.S.C., acknowledged the possibility of the football program vacating wins, if necessary.
On Tuesday, Kelly said, as far as he knows, the university isn’t traveling down that road.
”I do not have any knowledge of vacating wins or NCAA implications,“ he said. ”I have not been informed of that, and whether that is impending, I think I would have been informed of all those things, if we were in that kind of I am immediacy, if you will.
“What I do know is that a committee of this fashion has not, in my understanding, been set up before. So that was my reference to, we're going down a new road here, relative to the five players that are currently suspended.“