Even if he's just "present" at practice, it's a good sign. He wouldn't have shown up if he were completely done with Notre Dame.
It reminds me of the situation in the spring of 1991, when Tony Brooks was taking the spring semester off after that 1990 season, to focus on getting his academics up to speed.
He still came to practice, even if he weren't officially practicing with the team, and turned in a very fine year in 1991 (minus that fumble versus Michigan that cost us the game).