Notre Dame offers Jones release from scholarship

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame might release Demetrius Jones from his scholarship, after all, as long as the sophomore quarterback transfers to a school that is not on the Irish football schedule.

Jones, who started the season opener, quit the team last week and told reporters he had enrolled at Northern Illinois.

On Wednesday, athletic director Kevin White said Jones wouldn't be released from his scholarship. In a statement Thursday night, however, White said the university has offered to help Jones find an acceptable school.

"We are helping Demetrius compile a list of prospective schools that are not on our immediate future football schedules. We will grant him a release to those schools, and we will assist him in settling at another institution as best we can," White said.

That list will not include Northern Illinois, however, said John Heisler, Notre Dame's senior associate athletic director. Jones still could play for the Huskies next season, but he would have to pay his own way this year.

Heisler would not disclose the schools under consideration.

"The list has not been finalized at this point," he said.

Jones, who fumbled twice in the season opener against Georgia Tech, surprised coaches when he did not show up for the trip to Michigan last Friday. Instead, he attended Northern Illinois' 21-19 loss to Eastern Michigan Saturday in DeKalb, Ill.

Jones is from Chicago.

"We have initiated our normal protocol by identifying a list of institutions to which he has an interest in transferring," White said. "While Demetrius did not consult us on his decision, the university and he are now working together in our customary fashion. Our hope is that this process assists him in finding an institution that will enable him to meet his goals both as a student and as an athlete."