According to a release from the University of Notre Dame, three Fighting Irish footballers have been medically disqualified for playing forward. All three will remain on scholarship, but will be non-counters ahead of the 2020 football season.
“A trio of Notre Dame football student-athletes are medically disqualified from participation – wide receiver Isaiah Robertson (senior) offensive lineman Cole Mabry (junior) and runs back Trevor Speights (graduate student). Robertson, Mabry and Speights will retain their scholarships as medical non-counters. “
The news related to Robertson and Mabry comes as little surprise. There were a lot of rumblings this offseason regarding both no longer playing football. The news about Speights, however, is surprising, as he was brought in just this offseason as a graduate transfer from Stanford.
Mabry arrived at Notre Dame as part of the 2018 class. The No. 54 offensive tackle in the cycling country, Mabry chose Fighting Irish over scholarship offers from Cincinnati, Colorado State, Indiana, Memphis, and a few others. Former offensive line coach Harry Hiestand and former offensive coordinator Chip Long were described as the primary recruiters at the Mabry recruitment.
During our Counting Down The Irish series, Irish Pricates’ Tim Prister shared an update on Mabry’s future in South Bend.
“Mabry’s future in the game is in jeopardy with stinger problems that have caused nerve damage. It remains to be seen if Mabry is in an Irish uniform this autumn.”
Robertson arrived at Notre Dame as part of the 2017 class. The one-time receiver jumped round and also played safety for the Irish, before finally returning to the offensive side of the ball. He saw action in 12 games on special teams as a freshman. He played in six games as a sophomore, but did not participate as a junior.
A four-star recruit from Illinois, Robertson opted for the Irish over offers from Cincinnati, Indiana, Michigan State and others. He was primarily recruited by former assistant coaches Mike Denbrock en Mike Sanford.
Notre Dame, led by the recruiting efforts of running backs coach Lance Taylor, Speights landed back on May 28 after his time at Stanford. At Stanford, Speights rode 95 times for 363 yards and a score in two full seasons from the west. He did not play in 2016 as a true freshman, but carried the ball 36 times for 142 yards in year two. He earned his first start as a junior in 2018 and finished with 59 picks for 221 yards and a falling drop. He was also named Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mentioner that season. Speights has suffered some injuries throughout his career and saw no action in 2019, but is 100 percent healthy head in his time at Notre Dame.
Coming from Mcallen (Texas) Memorial High School in the 2016 class, Speights scored 969 times for 9,868 yards and 114 scores in four seasons. With all eyes on him as a parent, he rushed nearly 3,200 yards and 50 scores. That attempt led him to bid from Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M and many others. The 247Sports Composite Rated Speights as a three-star recruit, the No. 19 nationwide return and No. 65th prospect in Texas of the 2016 class.
