Floyd takes one year?s probation, one step closer to return to Notre Dame

No, exiled Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd still isn't back on the team in the wake of his second alcohol-related offense in a little more than a year back in March. But at least he's certain now he's not going to jail:

Floyd pleaded guilty Wednesday in St. Joseph County Traffic and Misdemeanor Court to one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, stemming from his March 20 arrest on Notre Dame's campus.
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Magistrate Brian Steinke ordered that Floyd be placed on administrative probation for one year, beginning Wednesday.

Floyd's driver's license will be suspended for 90 days, meaning he will be forbidden from driving. He will then be required to use an ignition interlock device in his car for six months. If the device detects alcohol on Floyd's breath, the car will not start, and it will be considered a violation of his probation.

The sentence is standard issue for first-time drunk-driving offenders in St. Joseph County. (Floyd's first alcohol-related offense was a citation for underage drinking in his native Minnesota in January 2010, not a DUI.) He'll also have to attend a presentation by family members of people killed in drunk driving accidents.

The verdict changes approximately nothing from a football perspective, except perhaps to slightly raise the odds that Floyd will be in the lineup for the Irish's season opener against South Florida on Sept. 3 now that jail time ?�always a distant possibility ?�is officially off the table. Floyd has already passed the university's discipline arm, is back to sweating with the team in "voluntary" summer workouts, and is reportedly well on his way to meeting the conditions proscribed by coach Brian Kelly for "changing his life."

His route back to the team ?�and to every Notre Dame receiving record, all of which should fall before the end of September ?�was already clear from the university's end. Now that the law is out of the way, too, it's just that much more of a formality.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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