Notre Dame Football

ACC commissioner John Swofford said allowing Notre Dame to be part of the ACC for the 2020 college football season is a "win-win" on Friday. 

According to ESPN's Andrea Adelson, Swofford said the following regarding the decision:

"This simply—as it has been with other aspects of the ACC-Notre Dame relationship—is a win-win. We're in a difficult situation, all of us in this country and in sports, and in the ACC we're trying to find the best path. We've said over and over again, we're in it together. It was the best thing for the ACC, it was the best thing for Notre Dame, and that makes it pretty easy when you know that."

The ACC followed in the footsteps of other Power 5 conferences by announcing that it will primarily play a conference-only schedule in 2020 to cut down on travel amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Officially, the ACC will play a 10-plus-1 schedule, meaning each team will play 10 conference games and one non-conference game. Notre Dame, which is an FBS independent, will play the same schedule and be eligible to play in the ACC Championship Game should it earn a spot.

Swofford called the arrangement a "one-off for this year" and noted that it was an easy deal to finalize:

"It was not hard for us to come to an agreement on that in terms of the television money. It was not hard for us to come to an agreement that if they were coming in, they were bringing their NBC games, they would play the same number of games as everybody else in the league, then they would be eligible to play in the ACC football championship game as well as the Orange Bowl, if they turned out to be our representative in the Orange Bowl ... and obviously the College Football Playoff."

Notre Dame is already a member of the ACC in all sports besides football and men's hockey, so it was a natural fit for the Fighting Irish to be welcomed in this season for football in an effort to give one of the biggest brands in college football a chance to compete for a spot in the CFP after many conferences have eliminated most of their nonconference games.

The Irish are coming off an 11-2 season that ended with a win over Iowa State in the Camping World Bowl. They have won 10 or more games in three straight seasons and four times in the past five years, including a trip to the CFP in 2018.

Clemson has dominated the ACC in recent years, winning the ACC Championship Game in each of the past five seasons, but Notre Dame arguably becomes one of the biggest threats to interrupt the Tigers' string of success.

Last season, no ACC team won double-digit games aside from Clemson. The Virginia Cavaliers had the second-best record among ACC teams at 9-5.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in multiple Power 5 conferences pushing back the start of the season and most have gone to conference-only or conference-plus-one schedules, both of which should help to cut down travel and potentially limit possible exposure to the coronavirus.

A global pandemic certainly qualifies as "unusual circumstances." 

That was the wording Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick used to explain why the school is joining the ACC in football for the 2020 season. Swarbrick explained to ESPN's Heather Dinich that maintaining the Fighting Irish's traditional independence left too much to chance:

"This is just an unprecedented and extraordinary year, and you recognize that going in. Could we have constructed a schedule without this? Yes, but given the uncertainties that everybody faces, you couldn't exactly be sure what you have. There was a greater level of control and certainty if we could do this with the ACC than if we had just constructed the schedule ourselves."

Notre Dame aligned with the ACC for everything but football in 2012. As part of that deal, the Fighting Irish committed to playing a handful of games on the gridiron against ACC schools every year.

The conference announced Wednesday the program would go a step further for 2020. Notre Dame will play 10 ACC opponents and be eligible for the conference championship game.

The 2020 Football Schedule Model has been announced.

More info: https://t.co/D6iCbHIY1x pic.twitter.com/dfhTqr4YTd

— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) July 29, 2020

ESPN's Andrea Adelson first reported July 24 this was a possibility and laid out why it was the most equitable solution for all parties.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 have already adopted conference-only schedules, costing Notre Dame games against Stanford, USC and Wisconsin. Now, the Fighting Irish have more scheduling stability and need to find only one nonconference opponent.

The ACC, meanwhile, doesn't have to worry about jeopardizing Clemson, Louisville and Georgia Tech's ability to pursue their annual rivalry games. If Notre Dame didn't formally join the ACC, then it would've potentially counted as a nonconference foe for the Tigers, Cardinals and Yellow Jackets.

According to Dinich, Notre Dame "is evaluating its non-ACC opponents" ahead of finalizing its 2020 schedule.

While Clemson will be heavily favored to win a sixth straight ACC title, the Fighting Irish could derail the Tigers' quest for the College Football Playoff. ESPN.com's preseason Football Power Index listed Clemson at No. 1 and Notre Dame at No. 9 in February.

The Fighting Irish finished the 2019 season with an 11-2 record. Much of their 2020 fortunes will hinge on the right arm of Ian Book, who threw for 3,034 yards, 34 touchdowns and six interceptions last year.

Notre Dame is independent no more—at least temporarily.

The ACC announced Wednesday that the Fighting Irish will join the conference for the 2020 season and play 10 games against ACC teams. Notre Dame will be eligible to compete for the conference championship as well.

The 2020 Football Schedule Model has been announced.

More info: https://t.co/D6iCbHIY1x pic.twitter.com/dfhTqr4YTd

— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) July 29, 2020

The move comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced Power Five conferences to amend their schedules for the upcoming year. The Big Ten was the first to announce a conference-only slate, and the Pac-12 followed the move a day later.

ACC teams will play 11 games, 10 of which will be against conference teams.

ESPN's Andrea Adelson reported July 24 that this idea was under consideration. Notre Dame has remained independent in football throughout its history, but a move to the ACC was the most sensible move for all parties involved.

For like 15 years, I've been getting some variation of "What will it take for Notre Dame to join a conference?"

Turned out the answer was: Global pandemic.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) July 29, 2020

The Fighting Irish already lost games against Stanford, USC and Wisconsin when the Big Ten and Pac-12 altered their schedules. Being an independent school when Power Five conferences are pulling up the drawbridge wasn't an advantageous position. Now, Notre Dame needs to find only one nonconference opponent to reach the 11-game threshold.

Adelson explained how welcoming Notre Dame as a member for football—the school is already affiliated with the ACC for all other sports—would allow the ACC to avoid a major scheduling headache as well.

Conference officials were looking at an approach that allowed teams to have one nonconference game to maintain annual rivalries. Had Notre Dame balked at joining the ACC for 2020, it would've potentially jeopardized the ability for Clemson (South Carolina), Louisville (Kentucky) and Georgia Tech (Georgia) to face off against their biggest rivals from the SEC.

The ACC will begin its football season during the week of Sept. 7-12, and the conference championship will be on either Dec. 12 or 19 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The ACC is weighing a plan that would allow Notre Dame to compete for a conference championship in 2020, according to ESPN's Andrea Adelson. 

"Sources indicated that was only one of various scheduling models under discussion, and changes continue to be made to models and proposed schedules," per Adelson. "Any scheduling model needs approval from the ACC board of directors, made up of all 15 presidents and chancellors."

The Big Ten announced on July 9 it was adopting a conference-only schedule for fall sports because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pac-12 followed suit one day later.

Adelson reported those inside the ACC have had "no appetite" for adopting a conference-only format. Instead, teams would be allowed one nonconference game in addition to their ACC slates.

Notre Dame remains independent in football but joined the ACC for all other sports in 2012. Under the terms of the deal, however, the Fighting Irish plays roughly half of its football schedule against ACC teams.

Affiliating itself more formally with the ACC would make sense for Notre Dame, but Adelson noted the move isn't necessarily straightforward from the conference's perspective.

The Fighting Irish play Clemson, Georgia Tech and Louisville over their final three games. Those teams all have annual rivalries with SEC teams: South Carolina for Clemson; Georgia for Georgia Tech; and Kentucky for Louisville.

Adding Notre Dame to the schedule would then potentially jeopardize those encounters if ACC teams are allowed just the one nonconference game. Making the Fighting Irish a temporary ACC member would be a solution to that problem.

As an independent, Notre Dame would be significantly impacted if more Power Five conferences go the way of the Big Ten and Pac-12. The Fighting Irish have already lost out on marquee matchups with Stanford, Wisconsin and USC.

Notre Dame football's independent status has extended for more than a century, but the program might have to settle for what amounts to a marriage of convenience.

The Notre Dame vs. Navy college football game originally scheduled for Aug. 29 in Dublin, Ireland, has been moved because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The University of Notre Dame announced Tuesday that the game will likely take place Labor Day weekend, which runs from Sept. 5 through Sept. 7, and it will be played at Navy's Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

This year's game will mark the 94th consecutive year Notre Dame and Navy have met, and it will be the first time that one of their games takes place at Navy's home stadium. All previous meetings in which Navy was the home team occurred at neutral sites.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick released the following statement regarding the decision to move the game back stateside:

"Our student-athletes have had great experiences competing in Ireland and are very disappointed not to be returning to Dublin in 2020. The change of venue has been a very difficult decision for our colleagues at the Naval Academy, but we are in full support of their choice. We are also grateful for everything our partners in Ireland have done to make this a smooth transition. We look forward to going back to Ireland for a game in the not too distant future."

This year's game would have marked the third meeting between Notre Dame and Navy in Ireland after previously playing there in 1996 and 2012. The Fighting Irish won handily on both occasions.

The Irish have largely dominated their rivalry against Navy with a 77-13-1 record. They also won two additional games that were later vacated because of NCAA penalties.

Notre Dame owns a three-game winning streak over Navy, and it has won eight of the past nine meetings. Last year, the Fighting Irish decimated the Midshipmen 52-20 in what was a home game for Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

Question marks surround whether the 2020 college football season will start on time and if fans will be permitted to attend games because of the COVID-19 crisis.

Notre Dame vs. Navy had been scheduled to be the first official game of the 2020 season, but if the season starts on time, that likely won't be the case any longer since other games are scheduled for Aug. 29.

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Bleacher Report's David Gardner interviews athletes and other sports figures for the podcast How to Survive Without Sports.

In the event the 2020 college football season kicks off this fall, Notre Dame Stadium probably won't be at its usual 80,795-seat capacity. 

Notre Dame president Father John Jenkins wrote about how the school is approaching the COVID-19 pandemic in an op-ed for the New York Times.

Jenkins said the school believes the health of student-athletes can be preserved "with aggressive testing, hygiene and careful monitoring." He didn't have the same optimism about those attending games in South Bend, Indiana.

"Fans in the stadium, however, are a different matter," he said. "Fighting Irish fans regularly fill Notre Dame Stadium's 80,000 seats. I see no way currently to allow spectators unless we restrict admissions so that physical distancing is possible."

Last week, the NCAA Division I Council voted to allow for football and men's and women's basketball teams to bring students back for on-campus workouts starting June 1. That could allow for the 2020 season to kick off as scheduled Aug. 29.

However, games could lack their traditional electric atmospheres.

The sports leagues that have returned—most notably the KBO League and German Bundesliga—are doing so without fans. Even if the pandemic slows to the extent fans can attend events in the United States, packing them together in college football stadiums would carry an obvious risk.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said May 20 the Buckeyes believe social distancing could mean as few as 22,000 people entering Ohio Stadium. Relaxing distancing guidelines could increase the capacity to 40,000 or 50,000.

Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard wrote Tuesday the Cyclones are planning to cap Jack Trice Stadium at 30,000 fans—50 percent of capacity.

Of course, the regional nature of college sports will complicate matters. Building a uniform approach to the pandemic across all Division I schools is almost impossible.

Michigan president Mark Schlissel went a step further than Jenkins when he said the university wouldn't be comfortable staging football games unless the entire student body has been cleared to return to campus.

The Division I Council's vote represented a sign of progress, but a number of details need to be finalized before fans can expect to see college football in the fall.

There is still plenty of uncertainty surrounding the 2020 college football season amid the coronavirus pandemic, and the possibility remains that conferences could shorten their seasons to play just league games.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick isn't worried about his team's schedule even with that looming possibility.

"We are very comfortable that if it goes that way, we'll be fine," Swarbrick said, per Heather Dinich of ESPN. "We'll be able to play a high-quality, full schedule, the same number of games other teams will play."

The Fighting Irish's schedule would be in serious jeopardy even if just Power Five conferences limited their slates to league opponents.

After all, 10 of their 12 games as an independent come against teams in Power Five conferences, including Wisconsin from the Big Ten, USC from the Pac-12, Arkansas from the SEC and six ACC opponents.

Swarbrick suggested teams could play a conference-only schedule with a "plus one" game to protect contests of interest such as rivalries between Florida and Florida State, Clemson and South Carolina, and others. 

Given Notre Dame's place as a high-profile opponent that generates plenty of national interest, television ratings and ticket revenue (assuming fans are even in attendance), it could be that "plus one" game for many of its opponents.

"You protect those, but other than that one game, you build your schedule around conferences," Swarbrick said. "We would love Wisconsin to still be able to play Notre Dame in Lambeau this year, or Arkansas to still visit. We just have to see how that evolves, but I'm not concerned about our ability to have a challenging, robust schedule even if the conferences go to a conference-only model."

Swarbrick said the College Football Playoff management committee has been in constant communication as it attempts to figure out a way to hold the 2020 season, although he recognized there is "a significant chance that may not be possible." 

In April, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported there was "strong conviction" from those around college football there would be a season even though there was "uncertainty" regarding the timing and what it would look like with COVID-19 still a serious concern in the United States.

As of Tuesday, there have been more than 1.2 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 70,000 deaths in just the United States alone.

By the age of two, it was clear Chase Claypool would be an athlete. He climbed the monkey bars with ease. Only a few years later, he would be playing baseball and trying gymnastics, however briefly. There was a foray into BMX riding and karate, which he practiced at a dojo next to his house. He tried and challenged everything. But nothing captured his imagination like football.

As a kid growing up in Abbotsford, British Columbia, the four-year Notre Dame wide receiver didn't just like playing the game—he absorbed as much as he could as a fan too. He watched the Seahawks religiously during the NFL season and the BC Lions when the CFL was in session. He idolized running back great LaDainian Tomlinson, who inspired Claypool to wear the same No. 21 throughout his early athletic pursuits. He tried to emulate the defensive ethos of safety Sean Taylor.

He finally joined a community tackle football team at the age of eight. A year later, he was playing against kids two and three years older than he was in a summer flag football league. The age gap didn't faze him; he just wanted to be tested.

When Claypool was 12, his mom, Jasmine, recalls driving home after a football game her son dominated and wondering out loud, "Wouldn't it be cool if you played in the CFL?" Chase pleaded with her to "let me get through high school first."

In the fall of 2011, however, the Claypool family context was changed forever.

One morning in late October, around 6:30 a.m., Chase, 14, was awakened by his mother in their Abbotsford house. She told him that his 17-year-old sister, Ashley, had taken her own life. Still half asleep, the news didn't register. He went back to sleep and thought it was a dream.

A few hours later he woke up, went to the bathroom and then heard his mother crying in the kitchen. That's when the shock and numbness kicked in. It wasn't until Ashley's funeral, where he was surrounded by grief-stricken family members, that the reality of her loss clung to him tightly. He didn't want to believe it was real.

Claypool realized then that he had to find different ways to live without his big sister, one who used to tell him to keep playing sports.

"I just want to make her proud," he said.

If he hadn't already done that by morphing into a team leader for one of college football's most storied programs, he's about to leave no doubt after he's selected as an under-the-radar X-factor in next week's NFL draft.

---

His clips had gone viral on Facebook, and it was clear why. On the screen was a big, muscular kid catching a punt return and racing through defenders. Few touched him, and those who did bounced off him. Eddie Ferg watched it 20 times to see if it was real. Ferg is the founder of Air Raid Academy, a Canada-based program that helps train and promote high school athletes to get into colleges.

"Seeing such a big kid moving like he was 5'9", I've never seen such a large individual move like that," Ferg said. "This kid was special."

Indeed, Claypool's elite athleticism made him a multisport threat. On the basketball court, he showed the ability to do a little of everything—dunk, shoot threes, spread the floor. Soon enough, though, Claypool began training with Ferg and other elite football talents, playing seven-on-seven tournaments against U.S. high school teams as far away as New Jersey.

He refined his game, working on running more efficiently, navigating cleaner routes, catching away from his body, playing more aggressively and reading defenses. He gravitated toward the learning process and picked things up rapidly.

"Chase has a ruthless approach to everything he does," Ferg said. "He never loses or wants to lose. If he does lose, he's challenging the person that beat him until he wins."

If he dropped a catch in practice, he'd run the play again until it was perfect. He regularly filled his time on trips to football tournaments by asking Karen Lopez, a personal trainer for Air Raid Academy, about how to improve his release off the line of scrimmage or his footwork. He'd set up shoe markers in the hallway of the hotel, film his form and send it to Ferg. On nights where he couldn't sleep, he would work out.

"Everything that he's dealt with in his life, losing his sister, is something that motivates him to be the best," Ferg said. "He was doing what he needed to do to not only improve but to be the best. It's the [Kobe] Bryant effect. That is Chase. It's not fair to compare him like that, but that is the closest comparison to Chase I could give anybody."

By his senior year in high school, Claypool was dominating the Abbotsford sports scene. In the fall, he led the Panthers football team in receiving yards (1,473), touchdowns (18) and tackles (74). With winter sports came a season that saw him average more than 40 points per game while scoring more than 50 four times.

Though some say he could have played Division I basketball, once the football offers started to come in, his belief in himself as a football player grew. And with an offer to play for Notre Dame, Chase moved to South Bend in 2016.

---

The Claypools were an active, outdoorsy family. There was knee hockey with mini sticks and soap on the floor and building BMX ramps in the street. There were laughs—lots of them. And there was a close-knit group of siblings (three boys and one girl, as well as two step-brothers), of which Chase was the youngest.

The last time he remembers talking to Ashley was a few days before she died. He was walking home from a friend's house and saw her walking in the opposite direction. He ran across the street and gave her a hug.

It's been almost nine years since. He thinks about her every day. Now, on his right arm is a tattoo that reads:

"A thousand words won't bring you back. I know, because I tried. Neither will a thousand tears. I know, because I've cried. Until we meet again."

He says the words aren't used as motivation, because she's always on his mind.

His mother is a good reminder too. She's a lot like his sister. Same humor. Similarly down to earth. But a relationship with a sibling is different, and Chase was close to Ashley. She used to put him in dresses when he was young. Later, she made it clear to him the potential she felt he had as an athlete, as a football player.

It's easy to see now what Ashley saw then.

As he prepares to watch the draft with his family in Canada, Claypool is a portrait of what modern offensive coordinators dream about: 6'4", 238 pounds and sporting a physique that brings to mind a CrossFit world champion as much as a football player.

If you've seen his press conferences from Notre Dame or, more recently, at the NFL combine, you would have also noticed his laser-like focus and confidence. "I've shown that I have size. If I can show that I have speed to go with it, that separates me from most of the guys," Claypool told scouts at the 2020 combine.

Those scouts are guardedly optimistic about Claypool's NFL future. Though he's prized for his size, hands and speed, his suspect ability to shake free of defenders after the catch has raised some concerns, according to NFL.com. "Everyone is going to talk about his 4.48 speed, but I didn't think he played that fast," one AFC director of college scouting told B/R. "Hopefully you can get that out of him, but the height/weight/speed is so intriguing that you almost have to roll the dice and hope for the best. I bet he goes top 50."

As far as Claypool is concerned, "Obviously, you want to get drafted as high as possible. I have set my expectations high. I'm honestly excited for the opportunity to even get drafted. I gotta keep my head on straight and focus on the little things to get better every day at football, being a good person, and the rest will take care of itself."

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It was a basketball game that convinced Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly that Claypool would be a good fit under the watchful eyes of Touchdown Jesus in South Bend.

In a game against local rival Pitt Meadows, Claypool dropped 51 points, and Kelly, who had flown up to Canada on a recruiting trip to see him, was there. There were dunks, threes, put-backs, kids bouncing off him. He was a man among boys.

To Kelly, it wasn't just Claypool's performance that impressed him but his desire to dominate.

"We never really got to see him play football in person," Kelly said. "Once we were able to see the athleticism that he had and the competitive fire. … He piqued our interest. We took a bit of a flier."

Still, Kelly knew that if Claypool was to be a cultural fit, he had to work within the Notre Dame system, a football engine Claypool knew little about. After a few days on campus hanging out with Fighting Irish players in the dorms playing video games, talking football over dinners, getting a feel for life at the university, the Abbotsford native got the thumbs-up from the school's players, which was enough to convince Kelly he would fit in.

It didn't take long for Claypool to acclimate himself. He proudly displayed a Canadian flag in his dorm room as well as pictures of his family. There were practical jokes with his dormmates, like the time he hid his roommate's mattress in a bathroom only to have his own possessions emptied out of his room in retaliation.

"He just liked to fit in with everyone else and do what every other normal college kid was doing," said Chris Wilcox, who met Claypool in his freshman year and eventually became the roommate whose mattress disappeared. "It's funny, I think that sometimes when he's not in that football atmosphere he almost forgets he's a football player."

With each year, though, Claypool's importance in the Notre Dame offense grew. As a senior, he caught 66 passes for 1,037 yards and 13 touchdowns in 13 games, earning team MVP honors. And that wasn't only for what he accomplished on the field.

"To go from somebody who is not sure to being someone who is extremely confident in who he is, that's what I'll always remember about Chase," Kelly said. "To play this game of football, you have to be somebody that people can count on. He doesn't miss games. There's a consistency in him that I think, for the scouts and everybody that is now evaluating him, they're starting to see something that is very unique."

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Every step Claypool has taken throughout his football journey, Jasmine has been there with him. Though she often worked two jobs while he was growing up, she rarely missed a practice or a game.

When Chase went to Notre Dame, she made it to at least five games per season, and last year she attended all of his home games. She was there at the Navy game when Chase put up four touchdowns. She went to Texas in December one year, where they dined on barbecue. She watched him practice in the rain.

No matter whether this all led to a football career or something else, Jasmine felt her son had a personality that would always help him make the best of any situation.

"I thought he might be a lawyer," Jasmine said. "He always had an excellent argument for whatever I was going to say," Jasmine said. "He was always outspoken. He challenged teachers. He would rally his friends to do workouts at the gym to constantly improve."

Ahead of the NFL's virtual draft because of the coronavirus, Jasmine's plans for a big party have been downsized into a Zoom get-together with a small core group of family eating Caribbean oxtail stew—Chase's favorite dish.

"Whatever happens, the world is completely open to him," Jasmine said. "Chase has always been successful at everything he does, whether it is academics or sports, so we're feeling pretty confident for the next stages for him."

It's not a stretch to imagine that Ashley would have felt the same way.

   

Matt Miller contributed to the reporting in this story.

Justin Robertson is an Australian journalist living in Toronto. He has written for Vice, Sportsnet, the Guardian and Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter: @justinjourno

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said he does not want the school to play games without fans, even if college football receives approval from the medical community to play games. 

"I don't see a model where we play, at least any extended number of games, in facilities where we don't have fans," Swarbrick told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. "College football is about the cheerleaders and the band and the campus environment on game day. We're interested in solutions that allow us to have a traditional game-day experience."

Swarbrick did not say Notre Dame would outright refuse to play fan-less games, but his comment ranks among the strongest rebukes of the idea since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

College football is one of the few sports leagues that has not had any major impact yet because of the coronavirus. While spring games and other team activities have been wiped out by the virus, the impact hasn't even been as great as the NFL, which has had to conduct a virtual offseason. 

Conferences and the NCAA are currently in contingency-planning mode. President Donald Trump said over the weekend he hopes sports can return "sooner rather than later," but the idea of fans being in stadiums anytime soon seems unlikely. Even sports leagues that are putting potential plans in place for a return are doing so while planning for stands to be empty.

Swarbrick seems vehemently opposed to the concept. 

"There might be a middle ground where you say, the first two games of the season, you might have to make some accommodations," Swarbrick said. "Maybe you only have students in attendance and you don't invite other fans. I couldn't see us going past a very limited example of that."

Notre Dame is a football independent, so it would not be bound to any conference-wide declarations. However, the university likely would have to forfeit television revenue and repay opposing schools who were slated to be on their schedule if the university refused to play games without fans. 

Three-star recruit Landen Bartleson has been released from his letter of intent by Notre Dame after he was arrested alongside two unnamed 16-year-olds and charged with burglary, criminal mischief and receiving stolen property.

Notre Dame officials initially declined to comment as to whether Bartleson's arrest will affect his standing with the university, according to the South Bend Tribune's Eric Hansen.

However, head coach Brian Kelly later released a statement Saturday that said Bartleson "will no longer be welcomed as a member of our football program."

Statement from Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly following the arrest of signee and incoming freshman cornerback Landen Bartleson. Kentucky prospect no longer part of the Irish program. pic.twitter.com/IjGutjBzR5

— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) January 25, 2020

The Boyle County (Danville, Kentucky) product is alleged to have smashed a window and stolen numerous guns from a local store, WKYT reported Friday night.

"Police say they were also investigating a vehicle theft that happened overnight on Centre College's campus," WKYT added. "We're told the trio was also linked to the vehicle theft. The vehicle was later recovered on Alum Springs Crosspike and police say all nine stolen guns from the burglary were found."

Bartleson signed a letter of intent to play football at Notre Dame in December:

✍️ ➡️ ☘️

@lbb_5 is #IrishBouNDXX.#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/sRZMURqF9s

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 18, 2019

Bartleson was expected to enroll at Notre Dame in June, per Hansen. 

Bartleson received 10 offers, per 247Sports, but only visited Notre Dame. Other interested programs were Colorado, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and West Virginia.