SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame sophomore Cam Biedschied will sit out the 2013-14 season to preserve a year of eligibility.
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey confirmed the decision after the 21st-ranked Fighting Irish's 74-62, season-opening victory against Miami (Ohio) on Friday night.
"We've made a decision on the five-year program," Brey said of taking the extra year of eligibility available to all student-athletes. "He and I have talked about it for about a week and methodically came to that decision. It's just best for him all the way around and his development. It's something he really had to feel good about. We do have a track record here of putting guys on the five-year program, lifting them more, what we do with skill work, certainly they can spend more time plugged into some academic stuff, as well, if they need to. We talked about Tom Knight and Jerian [Grant] a little bit about that."
The 6-foot-7 Biedscheid is from St. Louis and played in all but one game last season, when he was suspended for a fight with St. John's Sir'Dominic Pointer, and averaged 17 minutes and 6.2 points a game.
He didn't play in either exhibition game this season as he made the decision.
"I talked to [Grant] for a pretty long time one weekend, and he was just telling me how it really helped him and how it really benefitted his game and his academics. That definitely pushed me toward making this decision," Biedscheid said.
"If I would have played this year, I would have gotten plenty of playing time. I just felt like taking this year off would benefit me, strength-wise, skill-wise and academic-wise, and I need growth in all those areas."
