Tom Zbikowski ... The Battler

HE'S A third-team All-America safety and an electrifying punt returner, and he certainly puts some fight into the Irish. Notre Dame senior Tom Zbikowski was once a fearsome Golden Gloves boxer, going 75--15 before winning his pro debut at Madison Square Garden last year with a 49-second KO. So, if the Irish find themselves at an especially low point (they lost to Georgia Tech 33--3 last week, and this Saturday face No. 17 Penn State ), the 6-foot, 207-pound Zbikowski may be the man to get them up off the canvas.

On the difference between landing a knockout punch and a big football hit

A knockout, that's the end of the fight. You've won. A big hit, you've got to get up for the next play. That receiver might come back and try to score on you.

On how he became a Notre Dame fan

I grew up near Chicago [in Arlington Heights , Ill.] and the first college game I watched was Florida State --Notre Dame in '93. My older brother [E.J.] was a Florida State fan—I don't know why. I had to cheer against him. I didn't follow college football, that was the first time I found out what Notre Dame was and what the program was about. I just cheered against my brother, knowing he'd beat me up later.

On his charity, Tommy Z9 Foundation Inc.

My mom and I started it after the Madison Square Garden fight. E.J. has had brain-tumor surgery, so I wanted to give money for research. He [benefitted from] the cutting edge of technology when he had surgery—at age six and then at nine—and that's why he's alive today. When things like that happen, you want to give back.

On getting his first tattoo this spring

It's on my left rib cage. I had a brother, Steve, who died [at one-week old on Oct. 6, 1980, of transposed arteries]. It happened before I was born. The tattoo is the number six and has my mom's rosary wrapped around it. We're Catholic. We go to church every Sunday as a family.

On how he got started as a boxer