DaVaris Daniels 'done' at Notre Dame; Brian Kelly says Ishaq Williams is out for 2014, hopes to return in 2015

Three more decisions came to light Tuesday regarding the five Irish players who have been withheld from practice and competition since August.

Irish senior defensive end Ishaq Williams will not play in 2014 and would like to return in 2015, Irish head coach Brian Kelly said Tuesday. Senior receiver DaVaris Daniels is “done” at Notre Dame, Daniels said on Twitter on Tuesday. Irish graduate student linebacker Kendall Moore announced Tuesday evening on Instagram that he will “respectfully leave my alma mater” and referred to today as “this end” to his “collegiate journey.”

Daniels tweeted, “my time here is done” and said he is not looking to transfer.

https://twitter.com/DaVarisDaniels/status/522060116028571649

“Finally after over [four] months my son got an answer,” Phillip Daniels, DaVaris’ father, wrote in a since-deleted Tweet. “He is done at Notre Dame and will weigh his options for the future.”

“Thanks to everyone who supported, I appreciate it and now it’s time to strap up for bigger things,” DaVaris Daniels wrote earlier on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/DaVarisDaniels/status/522050711602073601

Phillip Daniels later tweeted that "there is an option for DaVaris to return in 2015 and that is being considered as well."

https://twitter.com/PhillipDaniels/status/522069802697764864

Irish junior cornerback KeiVarae Russell will not play this season and will most likely miss the spring semester before returning in June 2015, the junior said in an Instagram post Friday evening.

Kelly said Williams told him he would like to return in 2015. Williams took to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, writing, "God will not put you through anything you can't handle."

https://twitter.com/_CremedalaCreme/status/522108769120296960

Kelly said he had not seen DaVaris Daniels’ tweet and said Williams and Russell are the only players who have spoken to him about their decisions. Kelly said, to his knowledge, Williams and Russell are not allowed to stay in school for the current fall semester.

Moore, who graduated in May from the College of Arts and Letters with a degree in Film, Television and Theatre and was taking graduate courses, said Notre Dame’s decision is “disappointing.”

“Regardless of this announced outcome, my personal and ethical integrity remain intact and I have honored my collegiate journey from the beginning straight through to this end and I will take on the next chapters in my life with the same progressive commitment to excellence, hard work and relentless determination toward unlimited success,” Moore wrote on Instagram.

https://twitter.com/K_Moore8/status/522132727077044224

Daniels, Williams, Russell and Moore had been held out of practice and competition since Aug. 15 during the probe into “suspected academic dishonesty.”

Notre Dame announced Aug. 28 that Irish senior safety Eilar Hardy would be withheld from practice and competition, as well.

Notre Dame announced its investigation into the academic dishonesty Aug. 15. The University said “evidence that students had submitted papers and homework that had been written for them by others” was initially detected at the end of the summer session and referred to the compliance office in athletics July 29. Notre Dame said the Office of General Counsel then initiated “an immediate investigation.”

All five players are still enrolled at Notre Dame, a University spokesman said Tuesday morning.

Kelly said “nobody” has spoken to him about the idea of vacating victories still being in play.

“It hasn’t been addressed to me in a formal setting and talked about as here’s the next step, here’s what we’re going to do,” Kelly said. “I haven’t had that meeting with [Irish Director of Athletics] Jack Swarbrick about what is the next step if there is a next step.”