Mar 26, 2013; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish former player Manti Te

The Notre Dame pro day on Tuesday was certainly widely anticipated by media outlets and NFL draft fans. Of course, the center of attention was on the controversial Manti Te’o, a linebacker who was up for the Heisman Trophy this past year and wound up losing not only that, but losing the National Championship game in embarrassing fashion and then being embarrassed by the whole fake girlfriend scandal.

Now, Te’o has put that all behind him and after a grueling week at the NFL Scouting Combine (where he performed sub-par), Te’o has cemented his status as a first round pick, in my opinion. At his pro day, Te’o improved upon his 4.81 second 40 yard dash at the Combine by running an unofficial 4.71. For reference, former Alabama inside linebacker Rolando McClain was selected in the top 10, and ran a 4.69, just 0.02 faster than Te’o.

The key for the former Notre Dame star is going to be whether or not some team feels he can be a three down linebacker, and to me, that’s never been a question. If you don’t think Te’o can be instinctive enough to cover ground in the passing game on third downs, then send him at the quarterback. He’s proven to be effective enough in both of those areas.

With Te’o, his biggest strength has always been the work he puts in off the field. He is physically imposing at 6’2″ 250 pounds, or hovering around there, but he’s not the fastest or strongest guy. What Te’o does is lead his team by example, lead vocally, and get the job done almost without fail.

That’s why he was up for the Heisman trophy.

I’m not saying Te’o is going to be a top 10 selection, but he will come off the board likely from about pick number 19 to pick 32. I could see any of the Giants, Bears, Vikings, Broncos, Texans, or Ravens being interested, with maybe a few wildcards in there. I know for a fact that the Broncos have been very intently watching Te’o this offseason. John Elway and the Denver brass talked to him personally at the Scouting Combine, and the Broncos had a contingent on hand for Te’o's pro day as well.

When all is said and done, no matter what you think of Te’o, he will probably be a first round pick. If he isn’t, he will surely be selected in the top five or 10 picks in the second round, and definitely no later than that. If he is, consider me shocked. This is a guy who has done nothing but make plays, and while coming back for his senior year provided him with his best overall season as a collegiate player, it’s pretty incredible how the fake girlfriend situation has clouded people’s judgment of him as a player, and what he can bring to a team.

Jan 7, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te

Height: 6’1″

Weight: 241 pounds

Position Rank: 2

Drafted By:

40 Yard Dash: 4.82

Bench Press: DNP

Vertical Jump: 33″

Broad Jump: 113″

2012 Stats

Career Highlights (via Notre Dame athletics site)

CAREER: Consensus preseason first-team All-America linebacker for 2012 … played in all 38 games in Notre Dame career, starting 36 total games including 35 consecutive contests for the Irish … one of highest regarded and most-decorated defensive recruits to select Notre Dame in recent memory … totaled 324 tackles, 157 solo stops, 28.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks, six pass breakups and two forced fumbles … ranks eighth at Notre Dame in career tackles … named a second-team All-American by five outlets in 2011 … earned Capital One Academic All-America Second Team honors in 2011 … finalist for the Lott Trophy and Butkus Award in 2011 … his 133 tackles in 2010 finished just outside the top 10 in single-season school history … the 133 tackles were the most by an Irish player since Tony Furjanic made 147 in 1983 … has recorded 10 or more tackles in a game 18 times over his career … only four Irish players started more games on defense in 2009 … recorded third-most tackles ever by an Irish freshman and ranked fourth on team with 63 stops.

2011 (JUNIOR): All-America linebacker who started all 13 games at inside linebacker, tallying 128 tackles with 13.5 tackles for loss … selected second-team All-American by Associated Press, Walter Camp Football Foundation, SI.com, Rivals.com and Phil Steele … chosen to Capital One Academic All-America Second Team and recipient of Notre Dame’s Rockne Student-Athlete of the Year … named finalist for some of college football’s most prestegious awards including the Lott and Butkus Awards after being named to numerous preseason awards lists and All-America scrolls … semifinalist for the Bednarik, Butkus and Lombardi Awards and was a quarterfinalist for the Lott Trophy all at the same time, making him one of only three players in the country to be on all four lists … placed on the Phil Steele Midseason All-America First Team … notched double-digit tackles in nine games … led team in tackles nine times … had at least one tackle for loss in seven games … became only 10th Irish player to register 300 tackles for career at Stanford … recorded 14 tackles and a sack against USF … had 12 tackles against Michigan State … tallied 10 tackles and a sack at Pittsburgh … produced eight tackles, including a sack and a career-high three tackles for loss, in victory at Purdue … named FBS Independent Defensive Player of the Week following game against the Boilermakers … recorded 12 tackles, including two and a half for loss, and a pass breakup in victory over Air Force … had productive game against Navy (Oct. 29), tallying 13 tackles, including two and a half for loss, and one-half sack … named College Football Performance Awards Honorable Mention Linebacker and FBS Independent Defensive Player of the Week following game against the Midshipman … tallied 12 tackles, including one-half tackle for loss, in win vs. Boston College … named FBS Independent Defensive Player of the Week following game against the Eagles … tallied 13 tackles and assisted on a sack in the Champs Sports Bowl against Florida State.

2010 (SOPHOMORE): Saw action in all 13 games in 2010 … one of 11 players to start all 13 games for the Irish that season … joined LB Darius Fleming, CB Gary Gray, DE Kapron Lewis-Moore, DE Ethan Johnson, S Harrison Smith and CB Darrin Walls as the only players on the defensive side of the ball to start all 13 games … totaled 133 tackles, including nine and a half tackles for loss (34 yards), one sack (seven yards), one forced fumble and two pass breakups … led the Irish in total tackles (133), tackles on running plays (95), tackles on passing plays (35, tied), solo tackles (66) and assisted tackles (67) … also ranked second on the team in tackles for loss (9.5) … nearly became the first Notre Dame defender to eclipse 100 total tackles and lead the team in tackles for loss since Melvin Dansby in 1997 … nearly became the first Irish defender to lead the team in total tackles and tackles for loss since Brandon Hoyte in 2005 … ranked t-18th in the FBS in tackles per game (10.23), 12th in total tackles (133), tied for 17th in assisted tackles (67) and tied for 29th in solo stops (66) … eclipsed 10 or more tackles in seven different games (Michigan, 13; Michigan State, 11; Stanford, 21; Boston College, 10; Western Michigan, 10; Navy, 13; Army, 12) … only failed to reach double digits in tackles in six games (Purdue, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, Utah, USC and Miami) … added one tackle for loss, forced a fumble and registered a pass breakup against the Wolverines … recorded two and a half tackles for loss for a total of 15 yards in the overtime defeat against the Spartans … registered at least one tackle for loss in seven of Notre Dame’s 13 games, including five consecutive games (Western Michigan, Navy, Tulsa, Utah and Army) … finished with nine tackles against the Black Knights, nine tackles against the Boilermakers, nine tackles against the Utes, eight versus the Golden Hurricane and six against the Trojans and Hurricanes (missed most of the second half with an injury) … his 133 tackles in 2010 finished just outside the top 10 in single-season school history … the 133 tackles were the most by an Irish player since Tony Furjanic made 147 in 1983 … his 133 tackles rank as the third most ever by a Notre Dame sophomore … Bob Crable’s school record total of 187 in 1979 and Furjanic’s total of 142 in 1983 came during each of their second year in an Irish uniform … established a career high in tackles with 21 against Stanford … first player in the FBS in 2010 to eclipse the 20-tackle barrier … no player in the FBS had had more tackles in one game against a BCS conference foe since Durell Mapp of North Carolina had 23 stops against North Carolina State on Nov. 10, 2007 … most tackles by a sophomore against a BCS opponent since Austin Thomas of Indiana had 22 against Michigan State on Oct. 13, 2007 (Luke Kuechly of Boston College equaled total of 21 on Nov. 13, 2010 against Duke) … most tackles by a Notre Dame player since Chinedum Ndukwe had 22 in a victory over Air Force on Nov. 11, 2006 … the 21 tackles against Stanford not only rank as the sixth-most in single-game school history, but also the second-most ever by an Irish sophomore … Crable was a sophomore when he tied the school record with 26 stops against Clemson on Nov. 17, 1979 … totaled 824 snaps on defense, the most of any Irish player.

2009 (FRESHMAN): Linebacker appeared in all 12 games as rookie, while starting 10 … finished season with 63 total tackles, ranking fourth on team and third most for any freshman in program history … became full-time starter in fifth game of season against Washington and recorded 57 tackles over last eight games, second most on team … added five and a half tackles for loss, one sack and one pass breakup in first season … recorded two solo tackles in his Irish debut against Nevada including tackle on first career play in Irish uniform … recorded only sack of season against Purdue with 16 seconds left in contest to help secure Notre Dame’s 24-21 win over Boilermakers … totaled 10 tackles in first game as full-time starter against Washington … tied for team-high honors with eight tackles against USC … paced Irish with nine tackles against Boston College including season-best two and a half tackles for loss and one pass breakup … recorded season-high seven solo tackles in final home game against Connecticut … matched season high with 10 tackles in season finale against Stanford … totaled 238:28 of playing time and made 63 special-teams appearances.

Career Stats

Scouting Report/Player Notes

Te’o is becoming one of the most complete and dominant linebackers in the entire country. He is the ideal size and decent athletic ability for his position, and by coming back for his senior season, he has cemented his status as one of the top linebackers in the draft, possibly an even more appealing prospect than Luke Kuechly was in 2012. Te’o has all the tools to be a great leader at the next level, and potentially one of the top linebackers in the NFL before too long. He has the look of an instant impact player who can make plays behind the line of scrimmage as well as dropping back in coverage. In his last two seasons (2010, 2011) he has had 129 and 128 total tackles, leading the Irish. He’s got great range and can play sideline to sideline as well as stuff the middle. Pure MLB prospect who will start immediately upon being drafted, could be a top 10 talent.

2011 Notes:

Te’o is built like a freight train, and he hits like one. Not only is he one of the top linebackers eligible for the 2012 NFL Draft, he could be one of the best linebackers to come along in quite some time. Strong, tough, athletic linebacker prospect who had 63 tackles, 5.5 for loss, a sack, and a broken up pass as a starting true freshman. Followed up a stellar freshman campaign with 133 tackles as the clear starting inside linebacker in 2010, and added 9.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble, and three passes broken up. He will have at least three years starting in a 3-4 defensive alignment, making him all the more attractive to those teams. Will be a force against the run in the NFL, and is athletic enough to make plays sideline to sideline. Bottom line is, this guy is a high effort player who vacuums up ball carriers like they are going out of style. He will be a tackling machine in the NFL, and should be a high draft choice should he choose to leave after his junior season.

Video Highlights (via YouTube)

Feb 23, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te

Manti Te’o has participated in the Heisman Trophy ceremony. He has also played in a BCS National Title game. Still, he says he’s never faced more cameras and people in a press room than he did at the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine.

Te’o faced hundreds of media at the Combine in Lucas Oil Stadium, and answered 36 questions about his past, present, and future as an NFL player. So what did happen with the whole “catfishing” thing, Manti?

“I cared from somebody, and that’s what I was taught to do. Ever since I was young,” Te’o said. “Unfortunately it didn’t end up the way I thought it would.”

You have to feel for Te’o, who’s been getting grilled about this very embarrassing situation ever since the evidence came to light more than a month ago. He’s calmly answered questions about his future, about his past, and what NFL teams are asking him behind closed doors.

“The incident, I said all I needed to say about that,” Te’o said. “How I’m handling it going forward is focusing on the moment, focusing on football and the combine. Not everyone gets the opportunity to be here.”

The All-American and star linebacker prospect has already had formal meetings with the Houston Texans and Green Bay Packers, both of whom operate out of a 3-4 defensive scheme. Te’o says he will meet with 18 more teams as the process progresses in Indianapolis.

I think we can all see that Te’o has been through enough at this point. Not only has he faced the wrath of national media, but he will face the wrath up against every team he plays in his first NFL season, perhaps even among his own teammates. No one will probably ever forget what Te’o went through this year, and there will always be people who relentlessly harass him about it.

“Hopefully after this I answered the things I have to answer and we can move on with football.”

We hope so too, Manti.

Te’o was extremely composed throughout the interview, answering tough questions with a smile on his face at times, but you get the clear indication he understands that this is all going to be part of the process at this point. He says he’s no longer embarrassed about the ordeal, but the hardest part has been the effect it’s had on his family.

“The toughest moment was a phone call I got from my sister when she told me they had to sneak my own family in their home,” Te’o said. “That had to be the hardest part.”

Nobody deserves that kind of negative attention, no matter what kind of mistake they’ve made. Not to mention, one of Te’o's peers at the top of the inside linebacker crop–Georgia’s Alec Ogletree–was recently arrested and charged with a DUI. That to me is far more severe than getting duped by someone over the phone.

I am not going to pretend that Te’o's incident wasn’t eye-popping or very strange, but it’s something that people need to get over. I’d be willing to bet that the only reason it’s still in the news is because people are so intrigued when a seemingly untouchable celebrity like Te’o hits rock bottom as he did.

Why are we so interested in famous people’s failures? Seems sick to me.

That being said, I think we can all begin to move on from the whole catfishing incident and move forward to where Te’o will fall in the draft, and what team he will be impacting in 2013. There’s no question this will be a topic of discussion for he and NFL teams, but at the Combine, those teams are smart enough to know that they don’t need to spend more than one question of their time on it with Manti, and pick his brain on more important matters like football.

Te’o may have been duped off the field with someone he thought he loved, but he was not frequently duped on it. He is a hard worker on and off the field, in the weight room, and a leader among his teammates. He is a great football player, and hopefully that will be the focus from here on out.

Before the 2013 BCS National Championship, Manti Te’o's draft stock had him in the first round. Perhaps, that changed against Alabama.

Before the title game, Te’o had only missed two tackles, and recorded 101 total tackles, 1.5 sacks, and seven interceptions. Te’o was a Heisman finalist, and won the Nagurski, Butkus, and Lott trophies.

Against Alabama, the Crimson Tide exposed the Fighting Irish defense and Te’o. When Te’o didn’t allow two missed tackles all year, he had two missed tackles in the first quarter.

Alabama’s duo running back tandem of Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon ran all over the Irish defense and Te’O for 265 yards of total rushing yards.

Te’o wasn’t much of a factor at all, and most of the times when he burst past offensive lineman, he missed Lacy or Yeldon.

CBS Sports NFL draft analyst said of Te’o, “Te’o's first-half performance, when he struggled to avoid being blocked and, more tellingly, missed several tackles on Lacy and Yeldon, should be troubling to pro scouts.

In the biggest of big games you have to play well,” Rang said at halftime. “The fact he’s not has got to be an area of concern for any NFL talent evaluator. You don’t get more NFL (offensive) talent than Alabama. You don’t get a bigger stage. … For of player with his hype to not be able to make tackles, it will hurt his draft stock.”

Te’o missed a big opportunity to impress NFL scouts against Alabama, especially considering Alabama is a team filled with NFL talent. Te’o will  now have to make the most of opportunities at the Combine, along with his workouts for pro scouts.

Notre Dame appeared to be in control of this game with a forced fumble by Manti Te’o that was recovered for a touchdown by the Irish, and a defensive battle until the third quarter, when Notre Dame was able to make one of the coolest circus plays you will see all year into a touchdown.

Quarterbacks Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix split a third quarter drive that resulted in Rees throwing a fade route to–who else–Michael Floyd which was bobbled, tipped, and tipped some more before Floyd finally came down with the ball.

Aside from a nice punt return early in the game, Floyd was held in check by Xavier Rhodes, who absolutely shut him (or Tommy Rees) down the whole time he was in the game, but Rhodes was injured and Floyd had a huge size advantage over Greg Reid, and then Reid himself went up so high, he was actually injured on the way down.

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Te’o's return was confirmed through a text from his father to the Chicago Tribune, which first broke the story.

Jesse liked Te’o as the top linebacker in the draft, while I felt like he needed more seasoning even though he’s been pretty dominant for the Irish. I support his decision to go back and think he can really increase his stock with a big senior season, especially if Notre Dame is successful and makes it to a BCS bowl game.

This season, Te’o had 111 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks. He is an excellent inside linebacker prospect and if he gets better in coverage, he could be even more scheme versatile at the next level.

Manti Teo Would look real good in Big Blue

The New York Giants are coming off a terrible loss to the New Orleans Saints which had me fuming and questioning whether or not Coughlin can still get this team to show up in big games. I thought I’d take some time to make a mock draft for the New York Giants, I’ll go 7 rounds. Last mock I did for the Giants I didn’t include compensatory picks and I tired to do a combination of what the Giants might do and to fill some needs as well,  but this time  I’m going to give the Giants a 4th and a 5th round compensatory picks (they might even get higher. They signed David Baas, but lost Barry Coefield, Steve Smith, and Kevin Boss). This mock will be the way I would attack things.

You’ll see pretty quickly that I want to get value and to continue to add talent to the defense, I trust Eli Manning and the offense to put up enough points to win consistently even though they need oline help, but I’d love to see the Giants defense play well even when they don’t get a pass rush.

To see our scouting report of the player I mocked click on the name for all of our scouting reports (more than 150) stop on over to our scouting report page

1st round: Manti Te’o, LB, Norte Dame

I am not one of these guys who thinks the Giants should draft a linebacker in the first round every year and in fact I’m often arguing with my fellow Giants fans about it (in both terms of my own preference and the Giants philosophy) , but this year is different. Why? Because this year there is some serious talent at the 43 linebacker position with not one or two decent linebacker prospects, but five legitimate talented first round linebacker prospect. When the Giants pick (probably around 18th or so) linebacker will probably be the best value.

Manti Te’o is playing through an injury this year so he might not be quite as good as he was last year, but this guy is dynamo. He’s versatile enough to play any linebacker spot (Will would not his best position though) in a 43. Teo is reminiscent of New England Patriots Jerod Mayo. Te’o can cover and play sideline to sideline. I’d love to see Te’o in Big Blue next season.    With Te’o the Giants can still groom Herzlich to play MLB or SAM and Williams to play the Will behind Boley. Greg Jones has not shown the ability to play through traffic or sideline to sideline in his limited ation this year.

I also think that Luke Kuechly is a nice player (James Laurinitis type). Vontaze Burfict is having a bad year, but is uber talented and Zach Brown is fantastic but I think he could be drafted before the Giants pick. The last 43 LB prospect is Donta Hightower who is playing much better than last year and could get back into the first round.

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Each and every week we’ll take a look around the web at some mock drafts and see what kind of players draftniks are predicting to go to the New York Giants. We’ll focus on both the player and the need value of each pick. It’s interesting to see what other mock drafters out there think about what the Giants are thinking.

The always controversial Russ Lande has his newest mock draft out.

odd picks: the Colts are picking third and they take Trent Richardson? Not saying impossible, but that would be the third time in six years they would use a first round pick on a running back. Seems very, very silly.

Dwight Jones, WR, North Carolina-First time I’ve seen him in the first round. Let alone in the the top 10. He goes 8th overall to the Dolphins (one spot behind Michael Floyd).

At 12th overall the Titans grab DB Markelle Martin. Again first time for everything.

At 15th overall the Giants select: Ryan Broyles, WR, Oklahoma

What I like:

Broyles could be the next Steve Smith. He is very comftorable sitting up in the zone and grabbing some yards after the catch, he’s a disciplined route runner and can set up defenders well. He may fit in very well with the Giants as the slot WR that they haven’t been able to find yet to replace Steve Smith since he left for the Eagles.

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