The University of Notre Dame (UND) has announced that the NCAA has cleared senior safety Eilar Hardy to return to the Fighting Irish football team.

Michael Bertsch, the school's director of football media relations, made the announcement Friday morning on Twitter. Hardy was one of five Irish football players under investigation for academic violations since Aug., Yahoo Sports reported.

While Hardy has been cleared to play, cornerback KeiVarae Russell, receiver DaVaris Daniels, defensive lineman Ishaq Williams and linebacker Kendall Moore were banned for the remainder of the season.

ESPN previously reported that Daniels decided that he had played his last game at Notre Dame, announcing his plans to transfer. Head coach Brian Kelly said at the time he had spoken to both Williams and Russell, who both said they planned on returning to the football field for the Irish next season.

Shortly after Daniels' announcement, Moore posted a photo on Instagram announcing he too was going to leave UND. Moore graduated in May 2014, but was still on the team as a graduate student.

Last month, Kelly said Hardy would have to accomplish a few things in the classroom before he could come back to the team. It is unclear if Kelly has decided to bring Hardy back to the practice field.

"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," Kelly said at the time, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. "We have some things to work on, he's working on right now. Some of his classes and things of that nature. But I've invited him back on the roster to practice and then we'll take it from there."

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