Turns out, even Notre Dame bends the rules in recruiting.

On Thursday, the NCAA announced that Brian Kelly’s program had been caught violating recruiting contact rules. The NCAA cites three violations, including one involving a prospect in Seattle.

Interestingly enough, both Florida and Texas A&M have faced punishment for this very same thing — also in Seattle. The key violation here is what’s referred to as the “bump rule,” which comes when a coach or assistant coach comes into contact with a prospect away from a college campus that is not currently in his senior season of high school.

According to the NCAA, Notre Dame committed a Level II violation and two Level III violations after an assistant coach had impermissible off-campus recruiting contact, another sent 10 impermissible text messages and Brian Kelly took a photo with a junior prospect at the recruit’s high school campus.

Here is the full outline of penalties handed down to Notre Dame by the NCAA:

  • One year of probation.
  • A $5,000 fine.
  • A six-month show-cause order for the former assistant football coach, including a one-game suspension at any employing member school.
  • Reduced football official visits for the 2020-21 academic year by one.
  • Reduced football unofficial visits by 14 days for the 2020-21 academic year.
  • A seven-day off-campus recruiting ban for the entire football staff during the 2020-21 academic year.
  • The university ended the recruitment of the prospect.
  • The university will not recruit any prospects from the high school in Seattle from the 2019-20 through 2021-22 academic years.