here's part of an article posted on MSNBC
By Pat Haden
NBC Sports
Updated: 10:04 p.m. ET Jan. 14, 2005
The season-long voting by readers for Notre Dame's MVP is complete, and sophomore quarterback Brady Quinn is the choice of Irish fans. The team voted defensive end Justin Tuck its MVP, and I'm also going with Tuck, although a number of defensive players had outstanding years.
Injury not a factor
The defense was the strong part of Notre Dame's team, and the front seven was the strong part of the defense, and I think Tuck was the leader among the front seven.
Tuck led the Irish in tackles for loss, with 14 for 57 yards, and his 47 tackles ranked him sixth on the team.
He also broke the school's career record for quarterback sacks this season as his team-leading six sacks raised his three-year career total to 24.5 sacks.
At Notre Dame, Tuck has piled up 43 tackles for loss, 164 total tackles and seven passes broken up.
Maybe most impressive about Tuck is had such an outstanding 2004 after recovering from a major knee injury suffered in the 2003 season finale.
He worked hard at rehabbing the knee, and it paid off as he staarted every game, and logged a career-high 263 minutes of playing time.
An upward climb
Tuck came to Notre Dame as a skinny linebacker, and he started as kind of a pass-rush specialist in his redshirt freshman year of 2002.
In 2003, he had a great year rushing the passer, and played the run pretty well.
This past season, I thought Tuck was equally adept at defending both the run and the pass.
He developed four separate pass rushes, and showed consistent improvement from season to season.
I feel he has the potential of being a very high NFL draft pick after choosing not to come back and play at Notre Dame next season.
I guess what sticks out most in my mind when thinking about Justin Tuck's career at Notre Dame is that in preparing for the games I analyzed on NBC, I would meet with players from the opposing teams, and every opposing offensive tackle I every sat down with knew Justin Tuck's name.
