OT Notre Dame suspends two players for the Pinstripe Bowl
Notre Dame has suspended RB George Atkinson and CB Jalen Brown for violations of team rules. Atkinson tweeted that he was suspended for texting family and friends during a team meal as he has done all season.
Hard to believe a coach would suspend players for that.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/243891…
December 28th, 2013 at 11:30 AM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 3:44 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 4:13 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 11:31 AM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 12:04 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 11:38 AM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 11:46 AM ^
That's not slander. Kelly never said anything.
December 28th, 2013 at 11:53 AM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 11:46 AM ^
like a champion today!
December 28th, 2013 at 11:37 AM ^
Why enforce rules at this particular dinner after not doing so all season? I have no problem with rules of this type being enforced if it is consistent. It makes me wonder if there is not more to the story. For instance, was it the texting that got him suspended or was he told to stop and his reaction what got him suspended?
Need more information.
December 28th, 2013 at 11:39 AM ^
Atkinson tweeted that he was suspended for texting family and friends during a team meal as he has done all season.
LOL. Tweeting about getting suspended for texting during a team meal. Somebody needs to make sure that this didn't come from The Onion.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:00 PM ^
I know no one likes Kelly, but I have a hunch there's more to the story than what Atkinson is letting on.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:07 PM ^
great if Atkinson was notified of his suspension via Facebook! Onion Article: "Notre Dame RB tweets about how heard on Facebook he was suspended for texting"
December 28th, 2013 at 3:31 PM ^
2meta4me
December 28th, 2013 at 11:40 AM ^
I see two likely scenarios: either Kelly was trying to make an example (and using players that won't really be missed in the bowl game), or there's a bit more to it than just a one-time texting violation.
December 28th, 2013 at 11:48 AM ^
So I'd lean toward the latter.
December 28th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^
Yeah...it's probably something he's been warned not to do in the past, or it's the straw that broke the camel's back. You don't typically get suspended for a first-time offense when you have a clean record otherwise.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:29 PM ^
Or perhaps one of those "friends" he was texting was an agent, making it a potential eligibility issue.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:04 PM ^
Yeah, in his own words he's been doing it all season - probably been warned many times.
December 28th, 2013 at 11:54 AM ^
of this one. Do hope ND loses, though, and this could help.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:01 PM ^
Don't get your hpoes up. They are playing Rutgers.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:04 PM ^
Never count out the generosity of Turnover Tommy Rees at QB. He's good for a couple of killer INTs to keep Rutgers in it.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:26 PM ^
at Rutgers and I can say that.
EDIT: Sweet! I turned it on and ND was bumbling a punt. TO advantage: New Jersey. Then Rutgers's 4-ft high QB had a nice run to daylight open up and the turf monster got him by the pants.
December 28th, 2013 at 1:36 PM ^
Presumably, med students are 22 and over. Why are they being taught sex ed?
December 28th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^
And early this morning on some syndicated sports radio I heard some blowhard talking about how the Big Ten was going to be 0-3 in bowl games after ND defeats Rutgers. He had a point about how bad Rutgers has been this year and how they don't really deserve to be in a bowl game, but except to have some axe to grind against the league, it's quite the stretch to start counting losses that haven't even occurred yet by teams that are not even in the B1G yet against the league.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
business playing ND (8-4) this year just as NC (6-6) has no business playing Cincinnati (9-3). Those opponents should have been switched up.
December 28th, 2013 at 1:17 PM ^
...is a 2 1/2 point favorite.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:17 PM ^
WTF is up with ND's uni pants color not even close to matching the helmet color?
December 28th, 2013 at 1:32 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 12:14 PM ^
Kids these days. Seems anybody under the age of 30 can't keep their phone out of their hands longer than 5 minutes. He has to admit he has a problem.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 12:51 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 12:57 PM ^
I can see Kelly taking the phone away (Atkinson might fumble it when tapped on the shoulder anyway) but a suspension is quite harsh.
December 28th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 12:25 PM ^
Rutgers is...not good. They are going to struggle to get 200 yards of total offense today.
This will be over at halftime.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^
and quite possibly there was a speaker addressing them. If so, very disprespectful.
December 28th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 1:29 PM ^
I think we need to give Kelly a little credit here. I don't think he's going to suspend a kid who has a genuine family emergency to deal with.
December 28th, 2013 at 1:38 PM ^
I know Bacon is a friend of the blog, but the man needs to be stopped. Any teacher who destroys ringing smartphones in the classroom is a cold, angry man (or woman). An angry man! He could just confiscate the phones until the end of the semester. Instead, it's hammer time. Ridiculous! I wonder if ProfitGoBlue is willing take on a small civil case seeking the value of an iPhone.
Plus, those football tell-all books just rub me the wrong way. [Mumbles about Snoop Lion picking up recruits from LAX]
December 28th, 2013 at 3:46 PM ^
/ rant over
December 28th, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^
Didn't expect that...
But I'm happy about it. ;-)
December 28th, 2013 at 12:57 PM ^
December 28th, 2013 at 1:29 PM ^
Tommy has only completed 45% of his passes today.
December 28th, 2013 at 1:15 PM ^
The tweet was deleted, of course, but I have heard that Kelly has a rather stringent policy about releasing team news through outlets like Twitter and Facebook and the like. If that is indeed the case, then if I were Atkinson, I might worry about following up a violation of team rules with another potential violation of team rules as well.
December 28th, 2013 at 1:17 PM ^
What a slopfest of a game.
December 28th, 2013 at 1:21 PM ^
I'm guessing there's more to the story, but kudos to Kelly for this decision. While everyone is focused by if a young athlete tweets something deemed as inappropriate, there should also be punishment if someone is acting like a jackass with their smart phones. Smart phones are nice devices, but it's a bit of sad society we live in these days where it's acceptable for people to have their heads buried in their smart phones all the time instead of interacting with the people around you.
December 28th, 2013 at 1:27 PM ^