Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 117 also deeply involved in a similar campus charity called Bald and the Beautiful. "It's those things that really stick out to me when I look back on my time at Notre Dame." It's also how Tyler and his twin brother Trevor were raised. Trevor cares for new- borns at a medical center near Carrollton, while he finishes up his nursing degree there at LaGrange College. "Whatever you do and wherever you go in life, leave the world better than how you found it," shared Tyler's mother, Debbie Tucker, of the consistent message she deliv- ered to her children. "Give back more than you receive." And give back is what Tyler does. As part of his volunteer work with the foot- ball team, Newsome has been involved with Football 101, Roofsit 2016, Lift for Life, Chi- cago Backpack Donation, Football Service Friday, Make-A-Wish, Food Bank of North- ern Indiana, Halloween Party, St. Mary's Kids Christmas, Shop-With-A-Player and Center for the Homeless, among many others. "I think I have more fun doing commu- nity service than those I am involved with," Newsome said. "I always remember that all of this can be taken away just as easily as it was given to me. "Nothing is for sure so I need to make sure that I take advantage of everything as long as I have it and try to do the best I can with it all." Beyond football activities, Newsome has put his time around South Bend into places and causes that include International Dot Day, Perley Elementary, Child & Parent Ser- vices (CAPS), Dream Teams and Tarkington Elementary. He also volunteers at hospitals locally and back home, including the one where he spent almost three weeks in five years ago. "A punter is not a glorious position. It's a guy that nobody wants to see out on the field," Newsome said. "But the kids, they don't care. They just love Notre Dame football. "They just hear the words Notre Dame football, and they get excited. Using that to try and positively impact the youth is what it comes down to." Fate And Fortune One-hundred and fifty dollars — money earned from a part-time lifeguard gig — was the net worth of Tyler Newsome back in the summer of 2013 when he decided to parlay his bankroll into a spot at a Notre Dame football camp before his high school senior season. The odds for Newsome to make any kind of splash at the camp were as long as the trip from the Deep South to the camp. A placekicker by trade through his first three football years at Carrollton High School, Newsome was coming to the Notre Dame camp to shop his talents as a punter, a skill he had been dabbling in for only a few months and had never applied competitively. "I hadn't punted in a game before," said Newsome, who picked up punting to make himself a more complete kicker. "A lot of coaches, as they should've been, were very hesitant to recruit me. "I didn't let any of that discourage me." Camp registration opened and Tyler slapped down his $150 to participate before he was ushered into a nondescript herd of about 50 other punters on one field, while four chosen ones worked separately on another field in front of Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly. So now what? Newsome emerged from the herd by win- ning the punt competition within his group, but did anybody even notice? One Irish coach did, former Notre Dame assistant Bob Elliott, who summoned the talented but raw punting prodigy to meet Kelly. That changed everything. With the other campers away at lunch, Newsome scored a one-on-one audition with Kelly. "I didn't even know who Coach Kelly was at the time, and that's probably a good thing," Newsome re- called. The Newsomes got to know Kelly soon enough and very well when the coach called them into his office and unexpectedly ex- tended a scholarship offer to Tyler. "I had written off that a place like Notre Dame was going to offer a scholarship to a kid with no experience," Newsome said. "I kind of stopped in my tracks and asked, 'Are you sure, Coach?'" Kelly was sure, and from that day forward Newsome has worked his way into becom- ing one of the best punters ever at Notre Dame, and living proof that a little fate, a lot of talent and 150 bucks can go a long way. "Throughout the thick and thin, I've re- ally been blessed," Newsome said. "God's looked out for me." ✦ Newsome averaged 43.6 yards per punt last season, which ranked 26th in the nation. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL "During my time in the hospital, I saw a lot of things that are still with me to this day. This was God's way of telling me, 'Hey Tyler, this is much bigger than you.' Ever since that day, I've never again asked why. I've never felt sorry for myself again." NEWSOME