Brian Kelly ‘In Shock’ over Investigation
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Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images(SOUTH BEND, Ind. ) — Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly addressed the academic fraud investigation under way that involves four of his players on Saturday.
Notre Dame suspended DaVaris Daniels, KeiVarae Russell, Ishaq Williams, and Kendall Moore following the news on Friday.
According to ABC’s Ron Claiborne, suspensions would not just affect the four players but the entire football program, which just two years ago went undefeated in the regular season and to the national championship game.
“I knew coming to Notre Dame, and one of the reasons why I wanted to come here, was there are some core values as one of the preeminent Catholic institutions that you just can’t compromise on, and that’s integrity,” Kelly said. “And if you see that something is going on that’s not right — and obviously through this investigation they found this out — it’s important that it’s addressed. And so I applaud the university for doing that.”
Notre Dame now says it will voluntarily forfeit all of the games it won with the four players on the field if ultimately they are found to have cheated.
“Now, along the way, I’ve lost a starting quarterback and some key players. But I came here because I wanted to be associated with a university that had those standards,” Kelly continued. “And I’m disappointed, I’m saddened in a way for these young men, because they’re good kids. They made some bad decisions along the way — and I’m not throwing these four in that category yet, obviously. But we can talk about Everett [Golson], certainly, in that situation.”
“As it relates to the recruitment of the young men here, I think we’ve brought in the right young men. I think we continue to have to do a better job educating them. We have to do a better job of providing them the resources. Look, this is never a one-sided issue. We have to internally look at providing our student-athletes all of the resources necessary that if, in fact, they took shortcuts, that they don’t. And we have to look hard at that. And that’s something that will ensue over this issue.”
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