Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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"Just working out, knowing how to eat," Tuitt said of his weight loss. "I know how to do that now, so it's easy for me." "I was able to focus [on losing the weight since leaving Notre Dame]. I didn't have to work on school. I just had to make sure everything was good, making sure I was eligible, making sure of stuff like that [while in school]. That's the only reason why. It's a little more difficult to do it here." His mother, Tamara Tuitt-Bartlett, has always emphasized the impor- tance of finishing his Notre Dame de- gree, and that hasn't changed since Tuitt left after his junior season for the NFL Draft. Tuitt said he plans to use his NFL offseasons to take classes and estimates it will take one or two sum- mers to earn the degree, which he will complete in South Bend. FOUR IRISH PLAYERS IN MCSHAY'S TOP TWO ROUNDS ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay included four former Notre Dame players in his two-round mock draft released April 10. He projected offensive lineman Zack Martin to Baltimore with the No. 17 overall selection and defensive line- man Louis Nix III to New England with the 29th pick in the first round. McShay also predicted two Irish play- ers to be selected in the second round: defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt (No. 42 to Tennessee) and tight end Troy Niklas (No. 53 to Green Bay). DraftCountdown.com's Scott Wright projected Martin to Miami (No. 17), Nix to Green Bay (No. 21), Tuitt to Denver (No. 31) and Niklas to the New York Giants (No. 43). As far as the program's non-NFL Combine athletes, Wright said not re- ceiving an invitation is a hurdle for prospects, but not an insurmountable one. "Not being invited to the scouting combine isn't the end of the line," he said. "There are countless examples every year of guys who get drafted that weren't at the scouting combine, or 100 guys that were there that don't get selected. That's not the be-all, end- all. Of course, with a choice between the two you'd like to put yourself in front of scouts. "Especially at a school like Notre Dame, they're getting noticed. Not only the tape from their college ca- reers, but that pro day [was] very well attended. It's not like one of those guys is going to fly under the radar. Fox, Calabrese and Rees are all going to be in camp and are in the priority free agent range and probably pro- file more as backups at the next level. They're going to be in a camp. I don't think there's any question about that." TOMMY REES CHASES HIS NFL DREAM ON PRO DAY Nineteen quarterbacks were invited to Indianapolis for the NFL Combine in February, but former Irish signal- caller Tommy Rees was not among them. Rees finished third in school history with 7,670 passing yards and second with 61 touchdown passes during a roller-coaster four-year career that few could have predicted when he signed as a three-star recruit and overshad- owed by Andrew Hendrix in the 2010