Notre Dame Football: 5 Players Done For 2014

Heralded 5 star defensive end Ishaq Williams came to Notre Dame in a class with 2 players currently in the NFL.

Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt currently hold roster spots with the Steelers and 49ers.

Tuitt and Williams (alongside Manti Teo and Louis Nix) brought the Fighting Irish to it's national championship status in 2012. Lynch moved on to USF before the 2012 season.

Williams will no longer be an option this year and 2015 looks to be his next oppurtunity to see playing time as a player for the Fighting Irish-as he is officially done for 2014 alongside 4 other players.

The heralded player will long be remembered for the effort to lure him to South Bend by then defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, who met Williams and his father in the early morning hours outside their home just days before NSD.

Williams played a limited role that season, and throughout his career at Notre Dame he has in many eyes remained far from the player many felt would be playing in the NFL by now with hIs counterparts.

Through all his adversity on the field, Williams' plight off the field has overshadowed his play in South Bend.

As part of the 5 players suspended for academic violations, Williams pronounced his fate somewhat Tuesday afternoon, along with Davaris Daniels and Kendall Moore. 

Ishaq himself took to Twitter Tuesday afternoon with the following tweet: “God will not put you through anything you can't handle. #minorsetback #majorcomeback.”

Starting junior cornerback KeiVarae Russell and starting senior wide receiver DaVaris Daniels along with reserve linebacker Kendall Moore and backup safety Eilar Hardy were the others. Only Moore will have exhausted his eligibility and redshirt options and announced Tuesday that he is leaving.

Russell announced last week that he was also done for 2014 and looks forward to being back in 2015.

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly acknowledged earlier Tuesday that the two players he had spoken directly with recently were Russell and Williams, and that both were done for this season and that both were expected back in 2015.

DaVaris Daniels’ father, Phillip Daniels, posted on his Twitter account Tuesday morning: “Finally after 4 months my son got an answer! He is done at Notre Dame and will weigh his options for the future! #HeIsNDNoMore.”

Phillip Daniels later tweeted that there was an option for DaVaris to return to ND in 2015.

Williams retains a fifth-year option, because he has not redshirted. The five-star prospect from Brooklyn, N.Y., remains in South Bend, but Shaun Williams wasn’t sure whether his son would be allowed to finish the semester as part of the conditions moving forward.

Going forward, a light at the end of tunnel does exist if any positive can made of the entire ordeal all players and the football team has endured the last 2 months.

The 2014 Irish defense has played well and is on a path to do great things, especially in 2015-should Russell and Williams supplant themselves back on the roster as they are expected to do.

Daniels will easily find himself on the road to the NFL. He is talented enough to command top draft status and should easily project within the first 3 rounds.

While at Notre Dame, Daniels was clearly the go to receiver in the 2012 championship game, the leading receiver last year and heading into this season-was reason enough to lean towards the mindset that the offense(with the return of Everett Golson)would shine in 2014.

The Biletnikoff Award Watch List player for 2013 finishes his Notre Dame career with 80 receptions and 7 touchdowns on 1235 yards.

What will go down as perhaps a dark moment for the university considering the time frame to finalize an outcome, the football program will go forward with at worst no tarnish to it's gold.

While some suggest a hit to the program will occur with the prospect of future recruits, the exact opposite happened coming out of the weekend.

4 Star defensive end Bo Wallace verbalized his support to atttend Notre Dame. Wallace holds offers from several major programs, and was in attendance for the North Carolina game.

What was made very clear where the football program and coach Brian Kelly are concerned is the manner in which the entire investigation was handled from the start.

With a whisper of wrongdoing- the players were removed from the program without a bat of an eye.

Notre Dame Football made it very clear: In all it's glory and grandure, it is in partner with the academia of perhaps the most traditional college in the country.

No player will deter or scratch the very gold that shines atop the main building or the helmets it's players don on Saturday afternoon.

That idea should be a model for some major programs currently dealing with more severe student-athlete issues-starting with the next team the Irish face.