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Countdown to kickoff: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State is only seven days away

On3 imageby:Todd Burlage•08/27/22•

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Notre Dame's Stephon Tuitt during a game vs Michigan at Michigan Stadium. (Photo by Jeff Haynes /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)

To preview one of the most anticipated games for Notre Dame this century and the official start of the Marcus Freeman era, BlueandGold.com is counting down the days to the matchup against Ohio State on Sept. 3.

This daily series of 99 stories celebrates by the numbers some of the most notable names, dates, moments and memories related to the past and present of Notre Dame football. 

Today, with seven days remaining until kickoff, we look at the abridged but impactful career of Irish defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt.

Tuitt donned the No. 7 jersey for Notre Dame from 2011-13, and became a second-round NFL Draft pick while wearing it.

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What seemed like a perfect world for Tuitt tragically strayed far from it in June of 2021.

A second-team Irish All-American in 2012, then an eight-year NFL veteran, Tuitt lost his younger brother in a hit-and-run accident when he was struck alongside a highway near Atlanta. 

Grief-stricken, Tuitt spent the 2021 off-season away from his Pittsburgh Steelers family. 

Still distraught, Tuitt eventually returned to Steelers fall camp last year, only to aggravate a lingering knee injury.

Tuitt, 29, never played in a game last season. And in June of this year — shortly after completing his degree work at Notre Dame — Tuitt retired from football after a successful NFL career, all with the Steelers.

“After the tragic loss of my brother Richard, and upon completing my degree from the University of Notre Dame, I know I am being called to move beyond the sport of football,” Tuitt announced on June 1. 

During his eight-year professional career, Tuitt played in 91 games for Pittsburgh and recorded 246 tackles, 48 tackles for loss, 94 quarterback hits, 34.5 sacks and forced 6 fumbles. 

A total menace

Gifted with a bulldozer body and ballerina’s feet, Tuitt arrived at Notre Dame in 2011 with lofty expectations.

And he delivered.

A 6-foot-5, 260-pound pass-rushing menace out of Monroe Area High School in Monroe, Ga., near Atlanta, Tuitt was ranked by the On3.com Consensus as a five-star recruit, the No. 29 overall player and the No. 3 defensive lineman in his class.

Three years later, he left Notre Dame at 6-6 and 312 pounds, an inch taller and 52 pounds heavier from when he arrived. 

Over three seasons in South Bend, Tuitt recorded 126 tackles, 25 of those for loss, and 21.5 sacks, which still ties for third all-time in a career at Notre Dame. 

In 2012, Tuitt earned second-team All-American honors after anchoring a defense that led Notre Dame to the National Championship Game.

Many considered linebacker Manti Te’o the heart and soul of a dominating 2012 defense that also included Kapron Lewis-Moore, Sheldon Day and Louis Nix up front.  

But without the double-team attention Tuitt attracted in the trenches, it’s unlikely Te’o would’ve enjoyed all the freedom, success and accolades he did as a player that year. 

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