Te’o goes to Chargers in second round
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
Unlike Thursday night, Manti Te’o didn’t have to wait too long before hearing his name called during the second round of the NFL Draft tonight.
Te’o, thought to be a first-round pick by the pundits, took in the draft from his home state of Hawaii and had to endure not getting taken in the first 32 picks.
But six picks into Round Two, the Notre Dame All-American got chosen with the 38th pick overall by the San Diego Chargers.
Te’o is the highest-drafted Fighting Irish linebacker since 1993 when Demetrius DuBose was taken 34th by Tampa Bay.
Te’o told Chargers.com that he couldn’t even remember who called him from San Diego’s front office to tell him the news he had anxiously be awaiting for what must have seemed like an eternity.
“All I remember is them asking me, ‘How would you like to be a San Diego Charger?’ Then I talked to the owner and man, I’m just excited right now,” Te’o told Chargers.com.
Te’o admitted that falling into the second round will fuel his fire.
“It’s great motivation for me to go out there and just get better, and that’s what I intend to do,” he said.
San Diego wanted Te’o bad enough that it traded up to ensure they got college football’s most decorated linebacker ever.
“That mean’s a lot to me,” said Te’o when Chargers.com asked him what it meant for an organization to want him bad enough to trade for his services. “Being a Charger means a lot to me right now. It’s a great organization. I want to reward them for picking me. I’m going to do whatever it takes to help us win.”
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly was thrilled to see Te’o finally get taken.
“Manti Te’o is a once-in-a-generation type kid,” Kelly said. “I’ve not been associated with a better player, leader and man in my tenure as a college football coach. He possesses all the instincts and talents necessary to be a top-flight NFL linebacker and the San Diego Chargers are fortunate to add his services.”
For Kelly’s Irish, Te’o was sensational.
As a senior, he made 113 tackles and had seven interceptions. Te’o registered three-straight 100-plus tackle seasons and ranks third in Notre Dame history for career tackles with 437.
Friday night capped what’s been a tumultuous five months for Te’o.
First there was the girlfriend hoax, then a very forgettable performance against Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game where he was dominated from beginning to end and finally an abysmal performance in the NFL Combine in February in Indianapolis that now seems to have sealed Te’o’s fate in terms of him being drafted in the first round.
Te’o isn’t the first high-profile college player to see his draft stock plummet. Just ask Heisman Trophy winners Gino Torretta from Miami (Fla.), Nebraska’s Eric Crouch or Danny Wuerffel from Florida. None of them were taken in the first round.
Of course Te’o hopes to have a much more productive and lengthier NFL career than the aforementioned.
Some believe he will, too.
CollegeFootballNews said, “While he’s going to be a circus slideshow for a while because of everything that happened, he’s a leader who should put up big numbers when plays are funneled his way, and despite the BCS Championship fiasco, he’s good enough in the open field to get by and won’t miss a stop. He’ll be a good pro, but not an elite one.”
Only time will tell what kind of career Te’o will have at the next level.
He believes the last few scrutiny-filled months have served him well.
“It’s definitely made me stronger,” Te’o said. “Dealing with adversity, it can hurt you or make you stronger, and it definitely made me stronger.”
When Chargers.com asked Te’o what his message would be to San Diego fans he said, “I want them to know they’ve got a player who really cares and loves the game. I’ll do whatever it takes to be the best. I understand that this is my job now and this is a job I love doing. You’ll see how much I love it when I play.”
Don’t be surprised if Te’o makes some of the teams that passed on him in the first round regret their decisions when all is said and done.
