Given what he’s accused of doing, the punishment meted out makes absolute sense.
In mid-February, Javon McKinley was originally arrested on two counts of battery resulting in bodily injury to public safety official while engaged in official duties and one count of resisting law enforcement. The charges stemmed from an incident in which it’s alleged that an intoxicated McKinley, who was found unresponsive in the back of an Uber vehicle, punched a pair of police officers who were attempting to safely escort the wide receiver back to his dorm room.
As a result of the off-field incident, head coach Brian Kelly confirmed Friday that, not surprisingly, McKinley has been indefinitely suspended from the Fighting Irish football program.
#NotreDame coach Brian Kelly said WR Javon McKinley is suspended indefinitely from all football-related activities until his legal matters have been resolved.
— Eric Hansen (@EHansenND) March 1, 2019
Kelly’s confirmation comes a day after McKinley made his first court appearance in connection to the incident.
Thursday, McKinley was officially arraigned on two misdemeanor counts of battery resulting in bodily injury and one count of illegal consumption of alcohol. According to the South Bend Tribune, a new hearing has been scheduled for April 15, two days after the spring game is played.
The Irish will kick off their 10th spring practice under Kelly Saturday, March 2.
A four-star member of Notre Dame’s 2016 recruiting class, McKinley was rated as the No. 18 receiver in the country and the No. 16 player at any position in the state of California. Only two 2016 Fighting Irish signees, both offensive tackles, were rated higher than McKinley in that year’s class.
McKinley played in six games as a true freshman and four in 2018, with missing the entire 2017 season because of injury sandwiched in between.
