Notre Dame cornerback KeiVarae Russell has voiced heightened frustration with the school in a since-deleted Instagram post, saying it was "becoming ridiculous" after it held a disciplinary hearing over his suspension but wouldn't make a quick decision on his fate.
Russell was one of five suspended Fighting Irish players awaiting hearings before the school's honesty committee.
"I killed my meeting; I was so prepared and ready and was able to refute damn near every suspicion they had," said the Tuesday Instagram post, copies of which were widely circulated Wednesday on social media.
"Described details of assignments thoroughly so they couldn't say I didn't do it," the post said. "AND THEY STILL SAID MY DECISION WONT COME UNTIL ALL 5 OF US (and some other minor hearings) ARE DONE. Decision MIGHT come next week, not even 100% it's tough to understand these people."
Russell posted a photo of himself from an August preseason practice Wednesday night with another message, saying, "Just think about how mad these people are going to be when they realize they couldn't hold me down. When all my dreams still become fulfilled. When I use them for a degree. When I come back and dominate the NCAA. Just think..."
Notre Dame would not confirm Russell had his hearing, with a spokesperson citing the school's confidential honor-code process.
"Yeah, I mean I feel for him," Irish coach Brian Kelly said, when asked about Russell's Instagram posts. "Again, I think that, my role in this whole thing is to try to keep our guys together. The guys that are on the field. I can certainly understand how he could be frustrated, but hopefully we're nearing an end here. And we're hoping we get him back soon. And again, I think it's, for all those guys I'm sure that it's pretty close for them to be able to say, 'This is going to be behind us here real soon.'"
"I don't know that frustrated would be a word that I would use," Kelly later added, when asked if he was frustrated with the process. "I think for me, I feel for my players, you know what I mean? I feel bad for them. I guess that's the feelings that I have. They're missing significant amount of playing time, and that's hard to give up, playing time. I know when I was in college, you miss a game you felt, when you're 18- 19- 20-year-olds, that's catastrophic. So I understand what they're going through. I know it must be difficult. I feel for them. I wouldn't characterize my feelings as frustration. My focus has been on the group that I have. I think my frustrations are in the game and taking care of the football and all that stuff."
Receiver DaVaris Daniels had told ESPN.com's Jeremy Fowler last week that his hearing would be this Friday. A source told ESPN.com Wednesday that Daniels and linebacker Kendall Moore would have their hearings Friday, with defensive end Ishaq Williams and safety Eilar Hardy expected to have their hearings Thursday.
The school announced Aug. 15 that it was withholding four players from practices and games as it investigated academic misconduct. The school later announced, on Aug. 28, that Hardy would be withheld as well, and Kelly said that same day that the investigation was complete.
The school had said that its Office of General Counsel initiated an immediate investigation when the compliance office was referred to evidence July 29.
The five suspended players attend classes and have been welcomed back into the football complex, are dining with teammates and working out with Irish strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo.
Kelly has chosen all along to keep the players out of team meetings.