Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE -- Monday night's college football national championship game will mean a little more than usual to the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office.

The game between top-ranked Notre Dame and No. 2 Alabama will feature a pair of hard-hitting defenses, and those defenses, in turn, will feature the sons of two Gwinnett sheriff's deputies.

Stephon Tuitt -- a Monroe Area High School graduate -- is a sophomore linebacker for the Fighting Irish and the son of Deputy Tamara Tuitt-Bartlett. Adrian Hubbard -- the product of Norcross High School -- is a redshirt sophomore linebacker for the Crimson Tide and the son of Reserve Deputy Jerome Hubbard.

Both families will be in Miami to cheer on their kids.

"We are so excited and proud of Stephon for his athletic accomplishments, but more importantly, the strong student he had become," Deputy Tuitt-Bartlett said.

Said Reserve Deputy Hubbard: "Adrian has always worked hard and accomplished everything he put his mind to. His mother and I are very proud."

Tuitt starts at defensive end for Notre Dame, and was on a watch list earlier this season for the Ted Hendricks Award, given to the nation's top player at that position. His mother has been with the sheriff's office since 2005.

Adrian Hubbard is a starter for Alabama as well, and was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Week after his game against rival LSU in November. His father began work with the sheriff's office after retiring from the military in 1996, becoming a reserve deputy in 2001.