The hits kept coming on Thursday for Notre Dame fans when it was reported that senior to be wide receiver Davaris Daniels was suspended for the spring semester – Notre Dame’s second high profile academic casualty in less than a year.
News broke Thursday afternoon when Daniels released a statement to multiple media outlets.
“I understand that attending the University of Notre Dame is a privilege and with that comes a certain level of academic responsibility. Therefore, I will not be attending Notre Dame in the spring semester but fully expect to re-enroll in the summer semester to earn my degree and continue playing football for the Irish.”
Sports Illustrated reported that Daniels appealed the disciplinary action in order to play in the Pinstripe Bowl last month.
And with that, Notre Dame’s leading returning wide receiver will not be at Notre Dame for the spring semester which will cause him to miss spring practice and the off-season strength and conditioning program. Daniels caught 49 passes for 745 yards and seven touchdowns in 2013. Notre Dame’s next leading wide receiver that will be on the roster, Chris Brown, caught just 15 passes for 209 yards and a single touchdown.
The silver lining here is that unlike with Everett Golson last year, Daniels will miss the spring semester but will be eligible to return for the fall semester which would allow him to play his senior season for the Irish.
Daniels sent out a message on Twitter Thursday night that he would be back and wasn’t considering entering the NFL Draft.
tweetNotre Dame has plenty of weapons at wide receiver to get through the spring and Daniels absence will open up additional reps for Notre Dame’s young wide receivers James Onwualu, Will Fuller, Corey Robinson, and Torii Hunter, Jr. Juniors Chris Brown and CJ Prosise figure to see more action as well in the spring.
For Daniels, Thursday’s news is a disappointing start to a senior season for a player whose career feels as though its been on the verge of exploding the last two seasons, but just hasn’t done so yet. Daniels had some big games this year for Notre Dame most notably Temple (3 rec, 69 yards, 2 TDs), Purdue (8 rec, 167 yards, 2 TDs), and BYU (6 rec, 107 yards, 1 TD), but also went through extended periods of inconsistency.
The 2014 season, Daniels’ final season of eligibility, was to be the year that Daniels fully realized his potential and became the go-to, game changing receiver for an Irish offense that will be replacing a 1,000 yard receiver this year with TJ Jones on his way to the NFL after a spectacular collegiate career. That could still happen for Daniels, but he will have to do so despite missing all of spring practice and the off-season conditioning program.
Jay, what is intriguing is that we lose, except for Josh Atkinson, NO
PLAYERS after 2014, unless we get surprised by a departure. Daniels
could leave with a year of eligibility for the NFL, but he has some serious wood to chop.
This is a nice corps for Golson, Zaire, Kizer and Barnett to target.
Daniels has two seasons of eligibility remaining since he did not play as a freshman in 2011.
well, one thing is for sure. With Jones gone and Daniels not on the Spring roster, the competition will be hot and heavy at WR. Brent is probably glad he showed up already to compete. Fuller, Torii Hunter Jr.,
Corey Robinson, Prosise, Onwualu, Chris Brown will be trying to solidify their positions for the fall. At least now, we have roster balance and depth when these things happen.
Of the 7 mentioned, Brent, Brown, Fuller, Hunter, Onwualu, Prosise and Robinson, none is truly proven. But I, for one, like the potential
of all 7 and am comfortable with their position coach.
For JDH, the most intriguing case study of eligibility at Notre Dame was Ron Reed, the big league pitcher who was a very good hooper at Notre Dame.
I’d have to check, but I think he was eligible every Fall semester, and ineligible every Spring. He couldn’t even learn from himself!!
I’m suprised ND kept him around if it was a pattern of behavior.
Make sure you don’t learn any lessons regarding what happened to your teammate Everett Golson. SIGH
A disappointing start for our WR personnel. Hope he gets his shit together to be back in the fall. Too much academic misjudgement going on.