Notre Dame TE Alize Jones Declared Academically Ineligible
Notre Dame's offense took a major hit Wednesday.
Sophomore tight end Alize Jones announced via Twitter that he will miss the 2016 football season after failing to meet his academic responsibilities.
The tweet reads that Jones will remain a student at Notre Dame.
"Notre Dame is a special place and playing football for the Irish is a privilege," Jones said on Twitter. "With this opportunity comes academic responsibility, and unfortunately, I didn't meet that responsibility. I love Notre Dame and everything about it. Obvious, I'm disappointed at myself, but I'm going to make the best of the situation. I'm going to remain a student at Notre Dame and work even harder. I'm going to grow from this. I'm going to be a better student, teammate, player and man. While I won't be able to help my brothers on Saturdays, I'll do whatever I can to help this team achieve its goal of winning a national championship."
A Mackey Award preseason watch list member (nation's top tight end), Jones had 13 catches for 190 yards as a freshman in 2015, best among Notre Dame's tight ends in 2015.
The four remaining tight ends on Notre Dame's roster — Tyler Luatua, Jacob Matuska, Durham Smythe and Nic Weishar — have a combined six career receptions and one touchdown.
A 6-foot-5, 240-pound Las Vegas product, Jones was projected to be a key figure in Notre Dame's offense this season and follow in line of the previous Irish tight ends.
Shortly after Jones' announcement on Twitter, Notre Dame released a statement from coach Brian Kelly. Kelly said that Jones will not play, but is "permitted to practice and remains on the roster."
Prior to the 2013 season, former Irish quarterback Everett Golson was suspended for an academic violation. Golson, who started 11 games for the Irish in 2012 as a sophomore and led the team to the BCS National Championship game, returned to play the 2014 season at Notre Dame before transferring to Florida State.
Notre Dame had previously lost receiver Corey Robinson (concussions) this offseason. Robinson had 16 catches for 200 yards and one TD in 11 games last season and finished his career with 896 yards and seven touchdowns on 65 receptions. He would have been the leading returning receiver in 2016.
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne's Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD,
@BGI_MattJones, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.
• Like us on Facebook