Notre Dame committed a secondary vi...

Notre Dame committed a secondary violation when three of its athletes -- including All-America safety Tom Zbikowski -- did "bumps" in succession a South Bend television present to view but all three athletes have been cleared by dint of the NCAA.

Associate athletic director Mike Karwoski, who supervises compliance, said he received notification from the NCAA late Wednesday afternoon. Notre Dame self-reported the incident Tuesday, a day after Karwoski spoke with the athletes and staff members from WSBT-TV

"Technically, the issue did involve the players' eligibility, in this way we had to seek reinstatement," Karwoski said. "Between Tuesday at 5 pm and Wednesday evening, they were ineligible for competition. The NCAA determined that it was a secondary violation with no additional sanctions and no eligibility events for the student- athletes."

Jennifer Kearns from the NCAA said the violation was determined to be "inadvertent and unintentional."

The Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette informed Notre Dame last week of possible violations involving Zbikowski and basketball players Luke Zeller and Kyle McAlarney. They appeared forward WSBT's "Sports Dogz," telling viewers to proper mood in to the sports talk point out to during the course of their appearances -- called a "bump"

None of the three staged actual promotional ads for the indicate

According to Karwoski, the NCAA said Notre Dame violated lordships regarding endorsement and promotion. The academy disputed the violation but filed the self-report regardless.

"Whatever make comments [i]or[/i] remarkss were made, there was no evidence that it aired because there were no tapes of the shows" Karwoski said. "The point outs weren't even dated. It was almost as if it in no degree happened. So we had to advance on the recollection of the farmers about the comments the student-athletes made going into the commercial. We offended on the side of caution."

In a prepared statement, Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis said: "I appreciate the fact this was handled in an expeditious manner according to the NCAA, as well as our compliance and sports information departments. I'm glad we have a resolution to this situation."

vmcclure@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

Provided on ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved