Junior wide receiver Michael Floyd will remain suspended indefinitely from football activities after meeting with the Office of Residence Life last week, Irish coach Brian Kelly said Saturday. According to a press release, Floyd will continue his educational pursuits and will have the opportunity to rejoin the football program after meeting certain requirements set by the university and Kelly.
"Michael has shared with me the outcome of his hearing with our Office of Residence Life, and I'm happy that he has the opportunity to move forward both academically and athletically here at Notre Dame," Kelly said in a press release Saturday. "However, this does not change the fact that Michael is still a suspended member of our football team."
While he is appreciative of the chance to move forward, Floyd said he will not disclose the specifics of his meeting.
"I've met with the Office of Residence Life and, while I don't plan to discuss the details, I'm grateful that I still have a chance to earn my degree from Notre Dame and be a member of the football team," Floyd said in a press release. "I know that I still need to meet requirements set by the university and coach Kelly, and that I have a lot of work to do that and to prove that I've grown from this experience. I'm sorry again for the poor decisions I've made and for letting so many people down."
Floyd was arrested the morning of March 20 for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. At the time, Kelly said Floyd would not return to football activities until legal and university disciplinary matters "had run their course."
"Academics and personally, he's got a lot of things in front of him, a lot of hurdles he has to go through before we even start thinking about football," Kelly said. "We are so far removed from the football end of this. What I'm pleased, what Mike told and shared with me, is he's going to be in school. The most important thing for Michael Floyd is to get his degree."
Kelly said Floyd, a sociology major, remains 25 credit hours away from graduation and will continue his pursuit of a degree next year. However, Kelly would not give a timetable as to when Floyd could return to the gridiron.
"I can only comment on what I do as a football program," Kelly said. "Michael is suspended, and that's indefinite. This is not about football. Everybody's jumped to conclusions that Mike Floyd is going to play football. Mike has so many things on his plate that he has to handle before he can even think about football.
"This is fluid. This is everyday evaluating. He may come in tomorrow and say, ‘Hey coach, I can't do this,' or ‘This is too difficult.' This is everyday talking to him and making sure he's taking the right steps to number one get his degree, and number two, personally, he's got to take care of things we talked about that our absolutely crucial to his success as a student and as a young man."
Floyd remains scheduled to appear in court on May 2.
"It's only been three weeks," Kelly said. "This young man needs time to get some things in order. He's doing the right things, we've put together a plan that he has to follow, that he wants to follow. He's the one that said, ‘Listen, I need to do these things to be right.' There's a lot of work that has to be done, there are a lot of hurdles that he has to cross first."
The junior became Notre Dame's all-time leader in touchdown receptions (28) and second all-time in catches (171) last season.
Notes
• Kelly will appear as a guest analyst for the NFL Network on Saturday, April 30, in its coverage of the First Year Player Draft. Kelly will join Alabama coach Nick Saban, Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema and North Carolina coach Butch Davis on the network.
"I'm going to do it only from a perspective of a college football coach, how you get to this point, because I have no idea how those guys [prospects] are rated by the NFL," he said.
• The 82nd Annual Blue-Gold scrimmage will be televised live on the Versus Network Saturday, April 16, marking the first time the spring game will be televised nationally.
"We're excited about that," Kelly said. "[Broadcaster] Tom Hammond will be doing the game, so the NBC talent will be there. It's going to be exciting. I hope that we can live up to those expectations of being on TV. Right now we're a little thin in certain areas, but we'll make it exciting. It will be a good opportunity to showcase our football team on Versus."
• Freshman wide receiver Daniel Smith remains inactive after suffering a Grade 1 hamstring injury in practice two weeks ago. Kelly said the recovery process has revealed a strength deficiency in Smith's leg that existed prior to the injury.
"As we've gone back to look at this, he probably had a deficiency in that leg when he came on campus," Kelly said. "This is almost about strengthening as much as it is the hamstring [injury]. We're grading it as about a 30 percent deficiency in that hamstring. We're going to get him back, but whether he gets back in time for the spring game is questionable at this time."
