Notre Dame Safety Eilar Hardy Reinstated: Latest Details and Reaction

Heading into a critical showdown with Arizona State on Saturday, Notre Dame's defense will get a boost with the return of safety Eilar Hardy.

According to Notre Dame director of football media relations Michael Bertsch, the NCAA has ruled Hardy eligible:

Hardy has yet to play in a game this season. He was one of five Notre Dame football players implicated for academic fraud in August. The senior safety was invited back to the roster in October, and head coach Brian Kelly said there was still work to do before Hardy would be allowed to play, per Sam Cooper of Yahoo Sports:

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I met with Eilar, we have some work to do in terms of some of his academic work he’s working on right now in terms of trying to get that organized. But if we're able to get some of those things organized, we’re going to bring him back to practice after we get back from the bye.

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The NCAA made its ruling, and Hardy will be back with the team for the rest of the season. The Fighting Irish are currently ranked 10th in the College Football Playoff standings.