Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/276022
The Irish finished 9-4 after reaching the BCS National Championship Game in 2012. As for Nix, he battled knee is- sues for 10 months before it sidelined him for five of the final six games of the season. He underwent meniscus surgery in late November. After declaring for the NFL Draft and receiving his Notre Dame degree in December, Nix spent 60 minutes per day on an elliptical and cut Five Guys burgers and fries out of his diet, as well as potato chips — to a degree. "I'm starting to like salads now. They taste good," said Nix, who trained at Athletes' Performance Institute (API) in Arizona. "No dressing. I eat it like chips. Just pick it up and eat it." Nix opted for his usual quick-witted humor to deflect questions about his weight and training — "My stomach doesn't stick out as much and that's kind of nice. I enjoy that part. … I just feel sexier, man" — when meeting with reporters during an NFL Combine that he is using to convince teams he is healthy. "I didn't put [weight] on. It was al- ready there for a while," he said. "I enjoy my weight. [Teams] wanted me down, so I lost weight. "[I want to show] that my knee is well, that I can run on it. I got a little wiggle and just showing that I'm back to myself again. Less weight, though." As for the knee, Nix said his was "fantastic" before asking the reporter how his knee was doing. He refused to speculate on whether his 350-pound frame contributed to the knee prob- lems. "I can't diagnose myself and say that. I'm not a doctor," Nix said. "I don't know. I see a lot of big people walking around with nice knees. I hope [the weight loss] helps my knee and I plan