Irish’s Rice Reportedly Ineligible

A South Bend, Ind., television station reported Friday that Notre Dame junior quarterback Tony Rice has been ruled academically ineligible for the coming semester.

The school will not be able to confirm or deny the report until Monday, when grades become available for summer school classes that ended Thursday, said John Heisler, assistant sports information director.

“We would have liked to have settled this today,” Heisler said.

Rice, projected as the Irish starting quarterback, was taking six hours of summer classes in an effort to improve his academic standing, Heisler said. Rice did not achieve the 2.0 grade-point average minimum required for academic eligibility following the spring semester, and he would have been forced to remain out of athletics during the coming semester.

However, WSBT-TV quoted sources close to the university as saying Rice had failed to improve his grades enough during the summer to retain his eligibility.

Rice, 6 feet 2 inches and 190 pounds, completed 35 of 82 passes for 663 yards in 1987. He also rushed 89 times for 337 yards and 7 touchdowns for the Irish (8-4).

He was ruled ineligible during his freshman season after his high school grades and SAT scores fell below NCAA standards.

The two top backup Irish quarterbacks are Steve Belles and Kent Graham, neither of whom has ever started for Notre Dame.