Notre Dame’s Te’o snubbed in first round of NFL Draft
DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
It was a good night for one Notre Dame player in New York City at the NFL Draft and a stunning night for another.
Tyler Eifert heard his name called, perhaps a little later than he might have anticipated, but the Cincinnati Bengals made him a happy man when they chose him with the 21st pick of the first round.
The same was not true of Manti Te’o, who to the surprise of most, fell out of the opening round. Apparently his poor showing at the NFL Combine in February in Indianapolis made his stock plummet. The girlfriend hoax didn’t help Te’o’s cause either.
Notre Dame was hoping to have two players chosen in the first round of the draft for the second straight year, but it was not to be.
Eifert did become the highest picked Notre Dame tight end in two decades (Irv Smith was taken with the 20th pick by New Orleans in 1993).
Eifert, who had one year of eligibility remaining at Notre Dame but elected to head to the NFL, was taken about where some thought he would be although Mike Mayock, Notre Dame’s analyst on NBC, thought Eifert would go at No. 13.
ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper was surprised Eifert dropped slightly.
“The bottom line is Tyler Eifert is a steal at this point in the draft,” Kiper said. “He is a tremendous football player.”
The 6-foot-6, 251-pound Eifert, who prepped at Fort Wayne’s Bishop Dwenger High School, led the Fighting Irish with 50 catches for 685 yards and four touchdowns in 2012. He left Notre Dame as the school’s all-time leading tight end in career receptions (140) and yards (1,840) en route to being named the John Mackey Award winner this past season.
ESPN’s Jon Gruden loves Eifert’s versatility.
“He’s very versatile and has some suddenness,” Gruden said. “Eifert has excellent body control. This guy has a 35-inch vertical jump. I love the way that he goes and gets the ball. You can isolate Eifert in the red zone and he can be a mismatch problem. I really like this pick.”
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said Eifert’s collegiate career certainly warranted being a first-round pick.
“He proved to be the best tight end in college football,” Kelly said.
So Te’o will have to wait to hear his name called in the NFL Draft. That will come Friday when the second and third rounds of the NFL Draft take place.
Te’o wasn’t the only surprise of the opening round. West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith wasn’t selected, only one quarterback (Florida State’s E.J. Manuel) was chosen. No running back was drafted for nearly the first time in half a century. The Big Ten nearly got shut out for the first time since 1953, but the Dallas Cowboys picked Wisconsin offensive lineman Travis Frederick with the second to last pick of the night to prevent that from happening.
