Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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When the officers tried to placate Mahone, he screamed profanities and racial in- vectives while repeatedly threatening to kill the officers before, during and after he was handcuffed. He then was accused of whipping his head back to strike a police officer on his forehead. Redshirted as a freshman running back in 2012, Mahone began his 2013 sopho- more season in a crowded backfield that included juniors George Atkinson III, Amir Carlisle and Cam McDaniel, plus freshmen Greg Bryant and Tarean Folston. During August camp, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly singled out Mahone as one of the most improved players, and he was moved to slot receiver in order to have a better chance to get on the field. However, on Aug. 17, he suffered a high ankle sprain that sidelined him for several weeks. Mahone saw his first action on special teams during September victories against Purdue and Michigan State, but did not play thereafter. This spring, Mahone participated in the first three practices at slot, where Carlisle and current junior C.J. Prosise are splitting time (with sophomore Torii Hunter Jr. also expected to receive some snaps there). On March 20, though, Mahone under- went surgery for a fractured right foot and was shelved for the final 12 practices. He also had missed half of his senior year at Fitch High School because of an ankle injury. BlueandGold.com's Dan Murphy broke the news July 2 of Sykes' departure. Sykes reported to Notre Dame's campus in mid-June with the rest of the freshman class, but left weeks later for undisclosed reasons. By July 4, Indiana University an- nounced Sykes was with the Hoosiers. "After Coach Kelly and Notre Dame released Nile from his NLI [national letter of intent], he reached out to us," Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson said in the release. "We recruited Nile hard, and he was a guy we really wanted." The losses of Mahone and Sykes left Notre Dame with 81 scholarship players among the 85 permitted by the NCAA. Entering August fall camp, the Fighting Irish have five fifth-year seniors, 20 seniors, 12 juniors, 22 sophomores and 22 freshmen. JOE SCHMIDT HONORED FOR GOOD WORKS Former walk-on and current senior linebacker Joe Schmidt is Notre Dame's nominee for the 2014 Ameri- can Football Coaches Association Good Works Team. Schmidt helped establish a Notre Dame chapter of Uplifting Athletes, which is dedicated to the fight against osteosarcoma, a rare form of malignant bone cancer which was beaten by 16-year-old Irish fan Sam Grewe of Middlebury, Ind. Schmidt has spearheaded a pair of bowling events that have raised almost $7,000 to battle this rare form of cancer. In addition, he has helped organize multiple team community service projects, including a program with the South Bend Center of the Homeless, and he has been a participant in Monarchs for Marines through his alma mater, Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif. This program volunteers to help run youth camps for children of service members at Camp Pendleton's 11 Area Football Field. He also speaks at numerous local grade schools and church parishes in his hometown of Orange, Calif.