Okay, Seriously, What Is Up With This Demetrius Jones Thing?

So, so weird. And getting weirder.

1) In the story linked yesterday there was no mention of one salient fact in Notre Dame's decision not to release Demetrius Jones: NIU has no scholarships this year and was going to be paying his own way anyway:

He will not be able to receive an athletic scholarship from Northern Illinois this school year without the release-though a spokeswoman for the football program said it doesn't have a scholarship to give Jones anyway. But a lack of release should not preclude Jones from practicing with the Huskies once he clears various hurdles with the school, according to the spokeswoman.

Football scholarships are renewed on an annual basis, so Jones would not be stuck in football purgatory. He would be released from Notre Dame before next season and NIU could give Jones a scholarship at that time if it so chooses.

So the net effect here is zero. We can take back the nasty things said yesterday and replace it with a new question: why expose yourself to that crappy PR for no reason whatsoever? To "send a message"? What is that message? "We don't understand the way the media works?" "We hate the idea of recruiting Chicago?" "Our decided schematic advantage does not extend to the most basic PR concepts?"

2) Running back James Aldridge joins the 'Weis is a liar" team:

On Tuesday, Weis said he didn't know that Jones was leaving the team until 20 minutes before the team bus departed Friday for Michigan. Jones has said in published reports that isn't true, that Notre Dame coaches knew.

And Notre Dame running back James Aldridge said this: ''The coaches, they knew.''

Which is so bizarre. Why would Aldridge, still a member of the team in good standing, call out the coaches? And what is the point of the coaches lying about that in the first place? What is the possible motivation? None of this makes sense. Jones and Aldridge claim the coaches new; Weis claims they did not and the administration refuses to grant his release.

3) Weis says this won't hurt Chicago area recruiting:

"Anything that anyone wants to know, I have one of the greatest resources going, one of the most respected people to come out of the Chicago Public League," Weis said Wednesday. "I don't think we'll have any problems with the Chicago Public League."

Please note the "*I* have one of the greatest resources going." That's quintessential Weis. We'll see if either Darius Fleming or Stephen Filer bolt (I don't think Filer is in the public league, but he's a Chicago-area kid) as Weis takes
Notre Dame's ship down to 1-7.

Meanwhile, Michigan State is favored by 12.5 virtually everywhere after the line opened at 4.5 earlier this week.