Derrell Hand Suspended // UHND.com

Junior defensive tackle Derrell Hand was suspended indefinitely on Friday according to Michael Rothstein of the Fort Wayne Journal.

Notre Dame junior defensive lineman Derrell Hand has been suspended indefinitely from the Irish football team for an undisclosed violation of team rules, Irish coach Charlie Weis announced Friday afternoon. (Irish Insights)

No reason was given by the University for the suspension and it’s likely that one will never be disclosed unless Hand himself reveals it publicly. There were some rumors floating around Friday night about the situation, but until something is officially reported, I’ll refrain from posting them here out of respect for Hand and the University.

I’ll have some more insight into what this means in an article I’m writing for the main site which will be posted in a little while, but its suffice to that this news is really not the way Notre Dame needed to start fall camp. Defensive line is already a very thin position this year and if Hand were to miss the 2007 season, or worse, an already thin position just got thinner.

Update: The rumors floating around last night have proven to be true as the South Bend Tribune reported Saturday that Hand was arrested for soliciting a prostitute. Based on this news, its hard to imagine Hand suiting up for Notre Dame this season, if ever. Obviously this is not a good situation for anyone involved and as I said yesterday, this puts Notre Dame is a precarious situation along the defensive line.

Frank Vitovitch August 3, 2007

frank,

1. as a great admirer of notre dame and of almost everything that notre dame strives to do, i will be rooting for hand.
2. this young man came from a family that is not wealthy and from a high school football program that was not that great.
3. hand worked very hard in the classroom to become a real student at notre dame and in the weight room and on the practice field to become a real football player.
4. with all of the fine things that notre dame has done and strives to do, that grand inquisitorial student discliplinary system which suspends from nd anyone accused of anything whatsoever is the one remaining cancer that keeps students and recruits away from notre dame and keeps nd away from true greatness.
5. after all, in the current nd system, unless it has been changed since it suspendedkyle mcalarney and nearly drove him away from notre dame, everyone accused is presumed guilty just because they are accused and are burned at the stake for trivial mistakes that almost everyone makes in the process of growing up.
6. if you look at the names from the past, you will find rossbrowner and many others among the victims of the grand inquisitors.
7. virtually every victim comes from a poor family and the victims are severelyracially and economically scewed.
7. on the otherside, you have the usc type systems, in which the recruits and students know coming in that they have get out of jail for free cards. after all, usc has traditionnally controlled the la county da’s office which always decides not to prosecute even those who nearly beat fellow students to death.
8. looking at notre dame from the point of view of a student or student athlete picking a school, we can understand why many would reject notre dame in favor of boston college and stanford and other schools which have disciplinary systems that operate on the principles that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. that everyone is entitled to due process of law, and that every young person makes some mistakes on the road to becoming mature and should not be burned at the stake for a victimless crime such as the one that hand is accused of.
9. one of the recruits who chose illinois over notre dame in 2007 put it this way” notre dame is a school for rich kids.”
10. let’s face it, if hand were from a well to do family, he would have a car, money to go out on dates, and other amentitiesand he never would have been out on the streets.
11. until notre dame pulls its disciplinary system out of the inquisition and into something fair, i am afraid that the jesuit schools and others that have disciplinary systems consistent with due process of law and giving a young person a second chance if that personmakes a victimless mistake are simply a betteroption for most fine students and fine student athletes.
12. i will be praying for hand and for notre dame.

keep up the great work,
bob gilleran

One Comment

robert t. gilleran says:

August 5, 2007 at 2:36 am

frank,

1. as a great admirer of notre dame and of almost everything that notre dame strives to do, i will be rooting for hand.
2. this young man came from a family that is not wealthy and from a high school football program that was not that great.
3. hand worked very hard in the classroom to become a real student at notre dame and in the weight room and on the practice field to become a real football player.
4. with all of the fine things that notre dame has done and strives to do, that grand inquisitorial student discliplinary system which suspends from nd anyone accused of anything whatsoever is the one remaining cancer that keeps students and recruits away from notre dame and keeps nd away from true greatness.
5. after all, in the current nd system, unless it has been changed since it suspendedkyle mcalarney and nearly drove him away from notre dame, everyone accused is presumed guilty just because they are accused and are burned at the stake for trivial mistakes that almost everyone makes in the process of growing up.
6. if you look at the names from the past, you will find rossbrowner and many others among the victims of the grand inquisitors.
7. virtually every victim comes from a poor family and the victims are severelyracially and economically scewed.
7. on the otherside, you have the usc type systems, in which the recruits and students know coming in that they have get out of jail for free cards. after all, usc has traditionnally controlled the la county da’s office which always decides not to prosecute even those who nearly beat fellow students to death.
8. looking at notre dame from the point of view of a student or student athlete picking a school, we can understand why many would reject notre dame in favor of boston college and stanford and other schools which have disciplinary systems that operate on the principles that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. that everyone is entitled to due process of law, and that every young person makes some mistakes on the road to becoming mature and should not be burned at the stake for a victimless crime such as the one that hand is accused of.
9. one of the recruits who chose illinois over notre dame in 2007 put it this way” notre dame is a school for rich kids.”
10. let’s face it, if hand were from a well to do family, he would have a car, money to go out on dates, and other amentitiesand he never would have been out on the streets.
11. until notre dame pulls its disciplinary system out of the inquisition and into something fair, i am afraid that the jesuit schools and others that have disciplinary systems consistent with due process of law and giving a young person a second chance if that personmakes a victimless mistake are simply a betteroption for most fine students and fine student athletes.
12. i will be praying for hand and for notre dame.

keep up the great work,
bob gilleran