Jones Transfers to Northern Illinois
On Friday night we had heard that Demetrius Jones was headed to Northern Illinois and on Saturday ESPN reported that Jones is indeed enrolled at the school after not showing up for the bus to Michigan.
Northern Illinois officials declined to confirm that Jones had enrolled at the school.
Huskies coach Joe Novak said he’s heard the report but has had no contact with Jones, his family or other representatives. On Friday, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis confirmed that Jones did not make the team’s bus trip to Michigan. “I have not spoken to Demetrius and can only say that he missed the team bus. Any additional comment would be without all the facts,” Weis said in a statement.
The news of Jones transferring should not be shocking to anyone as all along Jones has said he wanted to be the quarterback so when Clausen took over the witting was pretty much on the wall. Northern Illinois is a bit surprising, but it’s also a local school for him.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out considering he needs to be released from his scholarship from Notre Dame before he can officially join the Northern Illinois team. Considering Weis was expecting him to make the trip to Michigan, he might not be overly helpful considering the way Jones handled the situation. Right now Weis has enough other problems to deal with, however, that he’ll likely want to make this as little of a distraction as possible for the team.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
I don’t remember Ty Willingham having back to back winning seasons like Weis. Anyone that thinks Willingham should still be here is crazy.
Who cares if Willingham never started 0-3, he did not get the job done. He is not getting the job done either at Washington. I don’t care if they beat Boise State, that team is not good.
I also agree that Weis should get more out of his players, but they are young. If Weis does not get the job done next year, then I would start to panic.
I’m not putting the blame on Ty alone. Weis needs to get better out of what he has, but to ignore the situation Ty left ND in with his last two recruiting classes(this years jr’s and sr’s) would also be an oversight. Right now ND is in a perfect storm of a huge recruiting hole left by Ty and Weis recruiting classes not performing yet as Freshmen and Sophomores.
omg I can not believe the Notre Dame faithful are now resulting in blaming Ty Willingham’s recruiting class. Come on guys… admit it. Not only do have an underachieving coach, you have him for 10 years at big bucks. The great Charlie Weis. Way to run Willingham out of town. Don’t ever remember him starting 0-3.
I completely agree with QCNick, Brady Quinn was not even close to one of the best quarterbacks before Weis came to ND.
Too many people are letting ESPN blow the Notre Dame situation out of proportion. I agree the offense is completely inept, but that is what you get with a young team.
I don’t understand why Kevin White is not taking any heat over the schedule. He is the moron who did not have the common sense to setup a winnable schedule. I wish he would resign!
Charlie got the most heralded QB in the last 20 years to attend ND. The recruiting has picked up substantially and I am excited about the next couple of years. Anyone calling for Charlie’s head needs to stop.
Try and look for bright spots in the young players. This will be a tough year to watch ND football, but good things will come soon.
John that doesn’t make much sense. When Weis showed up Quinn wasn’t one of the top QB’s in the past 20 years. He was a guy who was just a bit better than Carlyle Holliday.
Weis is in over his head now because of Ty Willingham’s complete lack of recruiting his last two season as coach. In Ty’s tenure he recruited 3 offensive linemen and built nothing. It’s sad to note that the best recruits from Ty’s last two seasons(ranked in the 40’s) were Junior Jabbie and DJ Hord
I have been stating for 3 years that Charlie is in way over his head. He took over a program with one of the best QBs in college football in the past 20 years. Time for Charlie to coach Charlie Brown.