Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said Tuesday that suspended junior nose guard Darrell Hand has been reinstated to both the University and the team, but will miss "at least" the first three games of the season.
"He's back in school; therefore he's back on the team," Weis said. "But he won't be playing for multiple weeks."
Hand was suspended from the team indefinitely Aug. 3 after he allegedly solicited a prostitute on the south side of South Bend.
Weis said that the junior attended both classes and practice Tuesday and will not face suspension from the University.
"[The three-game suspension] is not the school's," Weis said. "It's football's. For the school, he was reinstated [Monday]."
While Weis wouldn't say for sure how long Hand will be held out of games, he did say that the junior will miss the season's first three contests against Georgia Tech, Penn State and Michigan.
In the meantime, junior Pat Kuntz and freshman Ian Williams will man the nose guard position for the new Irish 3-4 defense.
Weis said Hand, who missed all of fall training camp, will have to readjust to practice before he can contribute fully.
"He started almost like the training camp mentality because you can't just throw pads on him and put him out there," Weis said. "Like [Monday], he went out in shorts. [Tuesday] he'll go out in shorts again. Then he'll go shoulder pads, shoulder pads, full pads."
