APNotre Dame would be fortunate to get one of their leading defensive playmakers back for 2012. Turns out, they may just get him after all.
At the Lott IMPACT Trophy banquet this evening — the award was eventually won by Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, who is just raking in the postseason hardware — Irish linebacker Manti Te’o (pictured, No. 5) said, in a surprising move, “I feel I’m not done at Notre Dame. I’ll be coming back to Notre Dame.“
Te’o's father confirmed to the Chicago Tribune via text message that his son would indeed be returning to South Bend for another year. The school later confirmed the announcement Sunday night.
For context, ESPN’s Mel Kiper projects Te’o as a mid first-round selection.
Te’o led the Irish this season with 115 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. Having him back for his senior year would be a huge boost for Notre Dame’s defense.
If Te’o changes his mind, he’ll have until Jan. 15, the deadline for underclassmen to make their declarations.
Go Irish! So happy to hear this… And NOT a Kelly recruit? Squashed!
I’m pretty sure Mel Kiper’s credibility was shot after his Jimmy Clausen nonsense: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/04/29/mel-kiper-stands-by-his-assessment-of-jimmy-clausen/
I actually mean no disrespect to Te’o, it’s just that Kiper annoys me.
I love the speech he gave at the ND pep rally before the USC game. It didn’t work out for him but it was great speech. I will say this if a USC player would have called out another teams coach it would have been all over the place.
Hell of player and this is good news for ND.
Somebody who has his best interests in mind we’ll get him back to going to the draft. Too much injury risk coming back.
I am a pretty traditional guy. But for players that have a chance to jump and get drafted high….more and more I feel like they should.
Can anyone name a guy who decided to stay that benefited?
Matt Lienart was the best example of a bad decision in recent years. Luck would have gone first last year…may still.
The career of an NFL player is short. Get in when you are projected first round.