Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/276022
UNDER THE DOME statistics and social problems classes. The sociology major told Fowler that his laissez-faire attitude led him to miss about two to three fall classes per week on average — after he had al- ready been put on academic probation the prior semester. "I let those guys down, and put pressure on them instead of myself," Daniels told Fowler while working out at EFT Sports Performance based just outside of Chicago, near his home in Vernon Hills, Ill. "It's my fault. I didn't put in the time and effort necessary … I'm going to carry that pain with me into next season." Like Golson last fall, Daniels is not enrolled at any school this semester. According to Fowler 's article, Daniels could have taken spring classes at Chicago-based Roosevelt College, but if he got less than a B in a class, then the potential of an in-season suspension loomed. Although Daniels contemplated entering the NFL Draft like junior class- mates George Atkinson III, Troy Niklas and Stephon Tuitt, conversations with his family and Golson, among others, helped inspire him to finish what he began. Starting in game four last year against Michigan State, Daniels was slowed by plantar fasciitis, turf toe and a hip flexor, so this winter also has served as a time of physical healing too. "Because of the way I'm going to come out of this, I'm going to come back bigger, better, faster, stronger than I was before," Daniels told Fowler. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has kept in contact with Daniels, whose 80 career receptions are nearly five times more than anyone else on the roster. He is expected to gain readmission this summer. "As long as he takes care of his classes this summer, he'll be eligible for all the games next year," Kelly said. LUKE MASSA OPTS OUT OF FIFTH YEAR Luke Massa was slated to be one of five fifth-year seniors returning to Notre Dame in 2014, joining offensive lineman Christian Lombard, defensive lineman Justin Utupo, linebacker Kendall Moore and safety Austin Collinsworth. The Ohio wide receiver — originally a quarterback recruit who could have been an insurance policy there, too — was the starting holder for kicker Kyle Brindza last season while majoring in marketing in the top-ranked Mendoza College of Business. "He's got a great opportunity for an internship that's going to lead into a job offer," head coach Brian Kelly said of Massa's indecision this winter about whether to stay or move on. "I said, 'Look, you can't turn that down.' So as much as he would have done anything we've asked him to do, he's got a great opportunity to start his career, so he's going to do that." According to Brindza, he is currently working with walk-on long snapper Hunter Smith — no relation to 1995-98 Notre Dame punter and future NFL star Hunter Smith — as his new holder. MASSA