Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Under the Dome Stephon Tuitt: Stay Or Go? In an exclusive interview with the Notre Dame campus newspaper The Observer Oct. 16, Fighting Irish junior defensive end Stephon Tuitt revealed that he plans to bypass the NFL Draft next May and return for his senior season with the Irish. "I'm coming back next year," Tuitt told The Observer assistant managing editor Matthew DeFranks. "I'm a junior. I still have one year." To quote ESPN's Lee Corso — not so fast, my friends. Hours after the story broke about Tuitt's return, Tuitt went on Twitter and tweeted: "Can't Believe everything you read. Goodnight." The tweet was deleted thereafter, and the next morning Tamara Tuitt-Bartlett, Tuitt's mother, texted the Chicago Tribune with the following message: "Stephon has not decided what he is going to do. What Tuitt has not officially made a decision on whether he will he meant to say was that school is the fo- return for his senior year, although one report during the cal point and he will get his degree from week of the USC game indicated the defensive end plans ND." to come back. photo by lon horwedel Classified as a consensus first-round pick next spring, including No. 14 overall on ESPN's "Big Board" compiled by Mel Kiper Jr., the 6-6, 322-pound Tuitt has been slowed some this season while recovering from offseason hernia surgery, which also affected his conditioning work, after recording 12 sacks as a sophomore. The bye week after the 37-34 victory versus Arizona State Oct. 5 was treasured as a time for convalescence. "The surgery that [Tuitt] had has affected his back, it's affected his hip flexors," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly revealed the day after the Arizona State game. "Some people dismiss it and say, 'Well, you know, you just had minor surgery.' Well, it's affected a lot of things. This is a big man, and he's really struggled all week [prior to the Arizona State game] with back tightness. He missed a day of practice because his back locked up. We've got to be careful with Stephon." Last year, Tuitt became the first sophomore defensive lineman in Notre Dame history to receive firstteam All-America notice from multiple outlets (CBSSports.com, Sports Illustrated and ESPN), and his second-team All-America recognition by the Associated Press also was the highest notice ever achieved by a Notre Dame sophomore defensive lineman by the AP. The middle of January has traditionally been the deadline for players to declare early for the NFL Draft. Under Kelly, only one player has declared early — tight end Kyle Rudolph in 2011. Those who opted to forego the draft and return as seniors were receiver Michael Floyd in 2011, linebacker Manti Te'o and tight end Tyler Eifert in 2012, and Nix in 2013. Offensive left tackle Zack Martin wouldn't have been an "early entry" in 2013 because he was a senior, but he still opted to return for a fifth season this year.