Important Notre Dame football tradition to discover its fate within days

One of the stories that has dominated headlines around college football this summer might finally be getting some closure. And when it does, Notre Dame football will be forever changed.

The House vs. NCAA settlement agreement is expected to be finalized and entered with the court by the end of this week, most likely on Friday. When it's finalized, the question that will be answered is how many players can be on a college football roster moving forward.

For now, the limit for Notre Dame football and other programs is 85 scholarship players and then as many walk-ons as the program cares to carry. It appears that once the settlement is officially reached, the number on a roster will be capped at 105.

Notre Dame football walk-on program to learn its fate this week

At that point, the Fighting Irish will take a hit to its roster size. The Notre Dame roster currently sits at 121 players. Should they need to lose players, the program must shed 16 to get down to the limit.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti didn’t confirm exactly how many players will be allowed on rosters after the settlement but was quoted as saying that the numbers being mentioned were “accurate.” The number most often mentioned was indeed 105.

“I’m not going to sort of point to a specific number right now. I think we're close to coming to (a) consensus with all the conferences. I'm not going to argue,” he said. “I think we were maybe on the higher end.”

That of course does mean that Notre Dame is going to have to adjust. The walk-on program is taking a big hit. The days of Rudy are over. Or at least will be soon.

The good news here is that most people believe there will be a phase-in so the program won’t have to get down to 105 all at once. But Notre Dame football better brace, because it’s coming.