Advertisement

Report: Notre Dame truck visit may have been violation

Did Notre Dame commit an NCAA violation by parking its equipment truck outside a recruit’s home?

According to ESPN.com, the Irish may have violated NCAA bylaw 13.4.3.5 when coaches publicized a Thursday morning trip visit to Savannah, Georgia.

The coaches were visiting five-star athlete Demetris Robertson, who tweeted a video of the 18-wheeler parked outside of his house.

According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, who spoke with “compliance officials from schools in three different Power 5 conferences,” the Notre Dame program could run into trouble for promoting the visit.

From ESPN:

Having the Irish's 18-wheeler truck outside of Robertson's home in Savannah, Georgia, and promoting the visit is a potential violation of NCAA bylaw 13.4.3.5, compliance officials from schools in three different Power 5 conferences told ESPN. The bylaw prohibits publicizing the recruitment of a potential student-athlete.

NCAA bylaw 13.4.3.5 Miscellaneous Promotions reads: "Member institutions and their representatives of athletics interests are prohibited from financing, arranging or using recruiting aids (e.g., newspaper advertisements, bumper stickers, message buttons) designed to publicize the institution's interest in a particular prospective student-athlete."

Notre Dame is under the impression that everything about the visit was legal because the truck “served as transportation” for a coach to visit a recruit. For the record, the trip from South Bend to Savannah is more than 900 miles.

"We believe this to be permissible and not to be in violation of bylaw 13.4.3.5 on the basis that it served as transportation of a coach to visit a prospective student-athlete,” a school spokesperson told ESPN.

In an interview with UGASports.com, Robertson said it was “surreal” to see the Notre Dame truck outside his doorstep before he left for school.

“It was really pretty unique,” Robertson said. “It was pretty amazing that a school would want to do that.”

In addition to Notre Dame, Robertson is also considering Georgia, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Stanford and California. He is rated as the eighth-best prospect in the 2016 class by Rivals.

Signing day is Feb. 3.

For more Notre Dame news, visit BlueAndGold.com.

- - - - - - -

Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!