Notre Dame Football Hit With One Year of Probation

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The NCAA this week placed the Notre Dame football program on probation for a full year as a result of a recruiting violation.

The two sides agreed to the probation in response to an impermissible off-campus visit that coach Todd Lyght made to see linebacker Savā€™ell Smalls at Garfield High School in Seattle.

According to ESPN, the NCAA concluded that Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly also had impermissible off-campus contact with a prospect in October 2019, when the player recognized the Irish head coach walking through a high school cafeteria in Pickerington, Ohio, and asked him to take a photo. The NCAA said Kelly initially declined before ultimately allowing the photo.

In addition to probation, Notre Dame was fined $5,000 and the school will lose one official recruiting visit.

Schools aren't currently allowed to have coaches recruit off-campus or host high school prospects for official visits through April 15 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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