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Notre Dame Football: ESPN Digging For Recruiting Violations

By Joshua Vowles

Sep 5, 2015; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish offensive coordinator Mike Sanford, Jr. watches warmups before the game against the Texas Longhorns at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame won 38-3. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 5, 2015; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish offensive coordinator Mike Sanford, Jr. watches warmups before the game against the Texas Longhorns at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame won 38-3. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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Did Notre Dame commit a NCAA recruiting violation with its use of the school’s semi-truck?

You probably already saw it coming, but maybe you weren’t quite expecting the noise to be so loud. When Notre Dame got insanely creative all of a sudden and sent its equipment semi-truck down to Savannah Georgia to see five star Demetrius Robertson and then sent it to Gordo Alabama to see another five star in Ben Davis… it gets noticed. More than that even- it gets scrutinized.

Leave it to ESPN to make sure that scrutiny is peddled for mass consumption. Brett McMurphy has a job to do and he actually does a good job doing it. I don’t really blame him for putting this article out, and in fact… I get a real fine laugh out of the whole thing. These “power 5” officials, most likely belong to the SEC and in all likelihood have some competing interest with the two recruits that are being mentioned.

Look, these are the same schools that the so called “bag men” are so prevalently involved with in recruiting. But here we have them griping over what would be considered a secondary violation AT BEST. Secondary violations happen all the time and they basically have no consequences anyways.

However, Notre Dame did respond with this statement:

"“We believe this to be permissible and not to be in violation of bylaw 13.4.3.5 on the basis that it served as transportation of a coach to visit a prospective student-athlete.”"

Oct 3, 2015; Clemson, SC, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly (right) reacts during the first half against the Clemson Tigers at Clemson Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 3, 2015; Clemson, SC, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly (right) reacts during the first half against the Clemson Tigers at Clemson Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports /

A power 5 compliance officer stated:

"“I’m confident that is not their normal mode of transportation.”"

Well… Duh. This is Notre Dame getting aggressive and creative in its recruiting tactics which scares the hell out of everyone that regularly blasts Notre Dame with libel and negative recruiting tactics. The Fighting Irish are fighting back. The line may be blurred, but in no way did they cross the line- not even close.

ESPN digs this up instead of the seedier and darker stuff because that kind of news is too hard to come by while sitting in a cubicle in Bristol. No matter what happens, this is the classic case of any PR is good PR and ESPN helps while taking a lazy stab.

Sweet.

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