Justin Tuck

Justin Lee Tuck (born March 29, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL).

His accolades include earning Alabama Class 4A Player of the Year as a senior in 2000, as well as lettering in football at both linebacker and tight end.

For his career at Central-Coosa, Tuck recorded 492 tackles with 37 sacks, 26 forced fumbles, and 17 fumble recoveries.

As a tight end, Tuck had 115 catches for 2,106 yards and 17 touchdowns.

Subsequently, Tuck also won two state championships as a member of the high school basketball team.

Tuck received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Notre Dame, where he played for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team from 2001 to 2004.

After redshirting his 2001 freshman year, Tuck played sparingly in his sophomore season.

Playing only 180 minutes for the season, Tuck recorded his first collegiate sack against Michigan State.

Despite his limited playing time and one start against Rutgers, Tuck was named a third-team freshman All-American by The Sporting News.

Tuck increased his production in his final two seasons at Notre Dame.

In 2003, he finished the season with 13.5 sacks before suffering a knee injury against Syracuse.

Tuck frequently encountered double-team coverage in 2004.

Despite a lingering knee problem from the previous season and not playing in Notre Dame's Insight.com Bowl loss to Oregon State, Tuck still finished the season with 47 tackles, six sacks and 14 stops for losses.

Nicknamed The Freak by his teammates for his raw athleticism, Tuck holds several defensive records at Notre Dame.

Topping the previous record mark of 22.5 sacks by Kory Minor, Tuck finished his collegiate career with 24.5 sacks.

His career 43 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks in a single season are also school records.

He played college football at Notre Dame, and was drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft, winning two Super Bowl titles with the team, both against the New England Patriots.

He also played for the Oakland Raiders.

He graduated from Notre Dame in May 2005 with a degree in management from the Mendoza College of Business.

In the run-up to the 2005 NFL Draft, Tuck also recorded a wind-aided 4.56 in the 40-yard dash as well as a 380-pound bench press, 560-pound squat, and a 336-pound power clean.

Pre-draft reports contended that the knee injury would keep teams from taking Tuck in the first round.

He was known as "terrific athlete who is a disruptive force up the field. Breaks down well playing with leverage, rarely off his feet and tough to move from his angle of attack," and "an extremely quick and agile player who possesses very good strength for a player of his size".

Although projected to be a mid-first round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, Tuck was selected in the third round, 74th overall, by the New York Giants.

On July 29, 2005, Tuck signed a four-year $2.36 million contract with the Giants, which included a $737,000 signing bonus.

Tuck's rookie season in the NFL found him behind Pro Bowl defensive ends Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora on the New York Giants depth chart, reducing his role to special teams and the first backup at each defensive end position.

In total, Tuck played in 14 regular season games with one start and the NFC Wild Card Round.

His first career sack came against the Giants' NFC East rival, the Dallas Cowboys, in Week 13.

Tuck finished his rookie season with 33 total tackles, one sack, two passes defended, one forced fumble, and 18 special teams tackles.

During his sophomore season in 2006, Tuck was limited to just six games due to an injury suffered on October 23, 2006, in a New York Giants Monday Night Football victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

On November 17, Tuck underwent successful surgery to repair a Lisfranc injury.

The procedure included inserting screws into Tuck's foot.

For the 2006 season, Tuck recorded two solo tackles in six games.

Despite starting only two games in the 2007 season, Tuck enjoyed his best season to that point, recording 65 tackles, 10 sacks, and two forced fumbles during the regular season.

During the season, Tuck spelled both Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora at defensive end and on likely passing downs he teamed with Mathias Kiwanuka at defensive tackle (with Strahan and Umenyiora at end) to form a four defensive end pass rush, a scheme defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo employed to pressure opponent quarterbacks.

On January 18, 2008, Tuck signed a contract extension from the Giants.

Tuck graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business with an MBA in 2018.

He is now an employee of Goldman Sachs.

Tuck played high school football in Alabama at Central Coosa County.

Growing up, Tuck's favorite sport was basketball.

Although he began playing football in the seventh grade, Justin only began to take it seriously in his freshman year of high school where he originally started out as a quarterback before changing positions to tight end and defensive end.