Kendall Moore Archives - Her Loyal Sons

Back when I did the HLS prediction post this past Friday, we knew that KeiVarae Russell told the team that he was done for the 2014 season as a result of the academic investigations that have been underway since August. Russell stated that he would return in 2015 and Brian Kelly stated that Ishaq Williams relayed the same information to him when asked in today’s presser for the weekly Marooned Five update.

That update, however, was provided after Kelly was asked about DaVaris Daniels’ status and this tweet from his father:

https://twitter.com/PhillipDaniels/status/522048577963450369

Kelly simply replied that he hadn’t seen any tweets, which is likely as this happened less than ten or so minutes before his presser.

The mention of “#HeIsNDNoMore” in conjunction with the mention of DaVaris being “done at Notre Dame” implied that Daniels would either be transferring elsewhere or that it was time for a move to the NFL. Phillip has made no bones in regards to how he’s felt about Notre Dame, leading to many polarizing comments that could fill an entire #HLSRecap.

Soon after his dad’s tweet, DaVaris looked to extinguish some of the potential flames:

Not looking to transfer. ND was my team. ND is where my heart was. Unfortunately my time here is done, ready for my future.

— DaVaris Daniels (@SincerelyToot) October 14, 2014

Soon after that, even Phillip seemed to be changing his tune:

https://twitter.com/PhillipDaniels/status/522069802697764864

I know it’s dangerous to read between the lines of 140 character statements, but there has always been a feeling that Phillip and DaVaris’ had some conflicting thoughts on the process. While both maintained DaVaris’ innocence and frustration with the length of the investigation, DaVaris never seemed to “poke the bear” with repeated criticisms of Notre Dame as his father did. The timing of the tweets practically reads as “hey, dad, calm down, you’re burning a bridge I might need later.”

While judgement has been passed down on these three, it is important to note that we still don’t know the full extent of the judgement. Further, there is a good chance that we never will due to FERPA. We will only get what the players decide to tell us.

This could be anything from copying a paper, to having a very poor understanding that paraphrasing someone else’s work isn’t kosher, to trusting someone to “edit” their papers and not realizing (or caring) that those papers were now too similar for comfort, or even knowingly taking part in a much larger ring of academic fraud. The only thing we know is that the University believed they had enough evidence of an honor code violation and it is serious enough to warrant academic suspensions for at least a semester.

We are still awaiting word from Eilar Hardy and Kendall Moore; however, there is little doubt that, from a football perspective, these were the three biggest concerns of the five. Based on the silence from those two, it is quite likely that they decided to appeal and are awaiting that decision.

I certainly hope that Daniels learns from this (second) experience and is able to find success whether it is with the Irish in 2015, the NFL, or even elsewhere. Thankfully, Russell and Williams want back in which I think speaks volumes about Kelly and how he runs the program at Notre Dame–RKGs indeed, despite their stumbles.

As for this Saturday, just as it has been for the first six games of the season, next man in.

Post-publishing Addendum: I forgot to mention that Kelly also said that vacating wins, the other unknown in this case, remains just that. Kelly mentioned that it hadn’t been discussed yet, so there is no word at this time whether or not it was determined that any of the five played while ineligible due to any matter related to this investigation.

UPDATE [5:23 PM]: Kendall Moore has received his verdict as well and his career at ND has now come to an end.

#NotreDame LB Kendall Moore’s full Instagram post: pic.twitter.com/He174JJC5F

— Observer Sports (@ObserverSports) October 14, 2014

The post UPDATE: DaVaris Daniels “Done” at Notre Dame, Ishaq Williams Out for 2014, and Kendall Moore’s ND Career Comes to an End appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Notre Dame Unmatched On and Off the Field

WhiskyPoet — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:28:07 +0000

Through three weeks, Notre Dame has already blown past expectations for 2014. And they’ve grossly exceeded moral expectations for any football program, professional or college.

The 3-0 record may have been foreseen at this point by many Irish fans, but did we know that there would be two 30-plus point victories? Did we know that we’d have a poor performance against a rival and still find a way to coast to a victory (which is more than we could say at this point in 2012)? Did we know that Michigan would be a part of the former and not the latter?

But more impressive than the record is what is going on behind the curtains at this time regarding the academic fraud scandal.

We all know the narrative by now: DeVaris Daniels, KeiVarae Russell, Ishaq Williams and Kendall Moore have all been suspended indefinitely from the football team until more information and hearings are held to determine what happened in 2012 and what should happened from this point moving forward.

I know many Irish fans have become upset at the slow pace of justice resulting from this investigation. I understand. But these are events that happened two or three years ago and include tens of people, not just a few. Notre Dame investigations are extremely thorough; they get every drop of data and information they can. They also present their case against the student TO the student before the final hearings. This is the phase that the four suspended players seem to be going through currently. This way the student has the ability to know what they are up against and create a defense of their actions. It’s due process, and although nerve-wracking while involved it is an extremely fair process.

Quarterback Everett Golson knows all about this as well. Following the 2012 season, it came to light that Golson had participated in some form of academic fraud (Notre Dame does not release official charges against students as part of their privacy policy) and was no longer eligible to play as per the University’s guidelines. A common judgement in these cases is for the student to take a year off from the University and reapply for the following school year.

Will Mahone was dismissed from the University of Notre Dame and is currently enrolled at Youngstown State University

This disciplinary result is based on one goal: rehabilitation. They give the student a chance to not only be punished for their mistakes, but also to work on what caused them to make that decision. It gives them motivation to work harder to get back to where they want to be. Golson fought for this. He never once wavered regarding his desire to return to campus and he was readmitted.

Not all students are as lucky as these players, however. Notre Dame has often held to the standard that felonious acts are cause for expulsion and they maintained this policy regarding former RB/WR Will Mahone. Mahone was arrested and charged with five counts after an incident involving vandalism and resisting arrest in his hometown. He was immediately suspended from the team and the school asked him to leave after formal charges were filed. They made it very clear that Mahone would be allowed to reapply after the process was complete or if his felony charges were dropped or changed.

Mahone stuck to his guns and plead not-guilty at first, but as part of a pre-trial plea bargain he ended up pleading guilty to four misdemeanor charges and spent only ten days in jail. To the best of our knowledge, he never attempted to reapply to Notre Dame and now currently attends Youngstown State University.

In all three events, Notre Dame has been extremely consistent. Upon discovery of the event, the students involved immediately lose football privileges. University hearings are slow but fair. The University is open to readmission.

The sports news during the last couple of weeks has been very disturbing: Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, Ray McDonald, Adrian Peterson.

What’s even more disturbing is that the NFL and their respective teams have given no consistency despite all of them being in essentially the same hot water. Rice was suspended for two games, then indefinitely, then cut from the Ravens; Hardy wasn’t suspended at all until the Rice situation blew up, then was deactivated for last week’s game and is currently active for his next game; McDonald is being investigated but has not been formally charged yet, and has played in both games so far this year; Peterson has had two stories of child abuse surface and was deactivated last weekend, he was reinstated this weekend but has since been placed on the exempt list after sponsors began pulling their money.

And that last bit there…that’s where things began changing in the NFL — money. When fans and players speak out against these players, the NFL responded with silence and goose chases. When sponsors began speaking out and ending deals, players became suspended.

This is where Notre Dame stands out from the crowd. Notre Dame didn’t give Everett Golson special treatment because he was a star quarterback. He got the same treatment that Will Mahone got: fix your issues, then reapply. Golson did both, and now he’s back on the team and playing some of the best football in the nation. Mahone dealt with his legal issues (it is unclear if his anger and/or substance abuse issues have been addressed) but never reapplied to the University.

For these four players involved in the current academic fraud case, they need only know one thing: Notre Dame stands by you. They may punish you, they may take football away from you — but they stand by you. They give you every resource possible to help you in school, and they give you everything you need to regain your enrollment.

Notre Dame does not put the success of its football team first; Golson was dismissed for a year while other schools may have given only a one or two game suspension for a similar charge.

While we sit back and wait for a decision on these players involved in the fraud case, let us take a moment to remember what that Notre Dame is doing what is best for each individual student. They didn’t wait for the NCAA to force them to punish the kids. They didn’t wait for Gatorade to pull its water coolers from the sidelines.

Remember this the next time a school suspends a kid for just a half of football after being arrested over the weekend. Remember the this the next time you feel like complaining about the school taking too long to decide the fate of the foursome.

Notre Dame does Notre Dame things and at a Notre Dame pace, we all know this. I trust that the students’ well-beings will be put first in their hearings. That’s what this school does. It won’t put the football team first, it won’t cut out cancerous players for no reason.

It is a special place and I’m proud to have an association with the University and the great fans that support it.

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Notre Dame, Academic Fraud, Accountability, Narrative, and You

Ryan Ritter — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 04:08:16 +0000

Jack Swarbrick addresses the academic fraud scandal late Friday afternoon. Via @joe_pa

On the list of things that I was concerned about for the 2014 season, academic fraud ranked somewhere around the same level as a meteor strike in South Bend.

Academic issues? Sure, based on recent history, that was definitely in the back of my mind, but seeing Fr. Jenkins and a bearded Jack Swarbrick announce to the world that Notre Dame was investigating serious academic fraud? Not a chance in hell.

Make no mistake, I’m absolutely furious. Not at DaVaris Daniels, Kendall Moore, KeiVarae Russel, or Ishaq Williams, but at Notre Dame. Simply put, ND failed. Sure, they caught it before the NCAA or a media investigation did, but that doesn’t change the fact that somehow this slipped under the radar to the point that a full-blown investigation is required. No one yet knows just how wide-spread this is or how long its been going on.

Even more upsetting, at least to myself but probably not the media or peanut gallery, is that there are apparently multiple non-student athletes involved in the fraud scandal. I had to bust my ass to get the degree hanging in my office and I’m incredibly proud to have it. The fact that there are students on campus that are looking for a shortcut to avoid doing work, pisses me off to no end.

There is no amount of spin in the world that anyone can deliver to remove that.

At Notre Dame fans and alumni, we’ve taken an immense amount of pride in not sacrificing academics for athletic glory. So much so that a common narrative arose that Notre Dame simply couldn’t keep up with the top programs in college football anymore. 2012 was our year to laugh in the face of that claim. Remember this?

Fast forward to now and there are rumors circulating about, and rumors Jenkins and Swarbrick couldn’t deny, that this fraud happened during the 2012 season.

Simply put, someone needs to be held accountable for this. Anyone that had a hand in it or turned a blind eye to it should be gone. Thankfully, I have faith that Notre Dame will indeed to this.

As upset as I am about the fraud, I can see it’s clear that Notre Dame still takes their academic integrity seriously. The reason isn’t just because they took swift action (they received a report about this July 31, just a little over two weeks ago), but rather because they are preparing for the absolute worst possible scenario.

While many were likely frustrated that there were no concrete answers to the big questions of how long this has been going on or how many people were involved, ND’s desire to find out how deep this goes is a desire to root out the entire problem and handle it for good. They could have just as easily treated the incident reported to them this summer as a one-time occurrence and be done with it.

Going that route though would invite Charles Robinson from Yahoo! Sports to get curious about what’s going on and blow the whole thing up. Imagine the egg on our face in that situation.

Instead, ND will perform their due diligence and restore the integrity that we all hold so dear. If we find out that multiple players on the 2012 team were involved and we have to vacate every single one of those glorious wins? So be it, even if it costs us the all-time winning percentage battle with Michigan. The mission of the University is far more important than a record.

Taking all that into consideration, you would think the narrative currently being spun by the college football pundits would reflect some of those facts. Sadly, this isn’t the case. Everyone seems to be looking for their “turn in your tiara” moment to take ND to task.

Much like Rick Reilly in 2012, everyone is missing the mark. ND is just like everyone else and will tell you so with glee. They are all so drunk with joy that even the most logical, well-reasoned prose can’t correct their blurred vision. ND might as well be Southern Cal or North Carolina as far as they are concerned, regardless if those perceived parallels couldn’t be any more divergent.

That goes double for the fans that love to hate us.

But that’s where you come in, loyal reader. Because, quite frankly, we are all going to be faced with a deluge of shit thanks to this mess. You won’t be able to correct the narrative. Don’t even try. Truth be told, even I’m not. This piece is preaching to the choir, not trying to convert the non-believer.

Don’t make excuses for the idiotic mistakes that these kids have made. Be glad happy that you are a fan of a school that cares enough to face these issues head on, but don’t trumpet it as an excuse for how this is somehow all okay. It’s not. This attack on academic integrity strikes right into the heart of what you hold dear about Notre Dame.

Don’t get salty at opposing fans for having their moment on the high horse. Take your verbal beating now and hope that you can laugh at them come gameday when it matters. You have no leg to stand on in a cheating debate right now. The sooner you realize that and try to focus on what actually happens on the field, the more sanity you will retain.

Above all else, maintain that, much as Fr. Jenkins stated in his presser, everyone involved in this is held accountable for their actions. Because if that doesn’t happen, the show of action and concern will be nothing more than a farce.

Until then, let the situation play out and let the talking heads say what they will. Let them bring up past sins if it makes them feel better. Take it all in stride.

Next man in. Rice is only two weeks away.

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Friday Roundup: The “Back to Business” Edition

Ryan Ritter — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 11:00:10 +0000

After a nice solid holiday break from work, a bit of serious writing here (and non-serious writing like the Roundups), a trip out to the BCS title game (post coming soon), catching up from a load of work at the day job, and completely failing at trying to host a Google+ Hangout, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. So yes, that means it’s time to get the Friday Roundups going again in 2014.

Now, unfortunately, I don’t have anything particularly witty, funny, or really anything intelligent to say to lead off this week’s version. Let’s just say I’m going to set the bar extremely low so I can continuously trip over it all year.

Thankfully though, there was quite a bit of news that broke this week from Notre Dame and around college football to make up for my failures at creativity so let’s get to it!

The Roundup

Charlie Strong is NOT screwing around. Around here, a common narrative is that Texas has had a “country club” culture for years and has created a soft team prone to failure. Well, that is definitely gone now. I can only imagine how nervous this made some regents when he was hired. Perhaps this is why his contract has no buyout.

So college football managed to effect the WWE and it’s a dream true. The only downside, it was Rose Bowl Champion Sparty that caused this, leading Daniel Bryan’s now famous “YES!” chant in a packed arena. Still though, rumor is the WWE caught wind of that and accelerated Daniel Bryan’s storyline in this past week’s episode of RAW.

Big Lou is talking and you should listen. He did an interview with Eric Hansen and filled in the blanks on why he signed with an agent so early among other topics like the NFL draft. Speaking of…

Dear Jerry Jones, please give me something to be happy about again. The team is a disaster, especially on the defensive line. Mel Kiper has three Domers hanging around your draft slot, grab one. Bonus points if it’s Nix because I will buy that jersey immediately.

Austin Collinsworth, Christian Lombard, Kendall Moore and Justin Utupo will be back for fifth years. Irish Illustrated apparently broke this news, but the only thing that I could find to link was an ESPN mention of the report. Lo Wood, another potential fifth year, has decided to go to Miami University along with his former position coach Chuck Martin.

And now your moment of zen…THE SUBWAY DOMER IS BACK, Y’ALL! (Hey does this mean I’m off the hook of IBG leadership duties now?)

Put These Games Shows on Your Radar

There will be two Notre Dame specials of note this weekend. Be sure to tune in or set your DVRs!

The Booze

So, yeah, Subway’s back and that means it’s PBR time y’all (save the Trojan Bloods for later).

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