It’s safe to say the most talked about college athlete of the year 2013 has been Notre Dame LB Manti Te’o. He was already being roasted in the media after his poor performance in the BCS title game, which ended in a brutal Notre Dame loss. A week following the game, the Irish leading tackler became the world’s new punching bag. Deadspin.com reported that the well-documented death of his girlfriend had been a huge lie, and that there was no trace of his girlfriend ever existing. This story turned out to be true and Te’o said he was the victim of a “catfishing”.
For the next 2 months nobody wanted to talk about the great season Te’o had, just the fact that he had a girlfriend that did not exist for a year.The entire story was very bizzare and I believe it distracted him from performing well at the NFL combine last week. Te’o ran a below average 4.82 in the 40 yard dash and declined to compete in the bench press. He has plummeted down draft boards because of this.
I’m sitting here wondering why we are judging where football players should be drafted based on excersises they do without pads on. Lots of players have the measurables and tools to be great players but never become great. What happened to judging a player by what they actually do on the field? Manti had a great season, and before all of the hoopla came about, he was considered a top ten pick based on only his college career thus far. Not all great players are the biggest, strongest or fastest, it is what is on the inside that makes a player great. So before you write off this young man from being a great NFL player, watch some of his game film, and tell me hes not a damn good football player.
For the next 2 months nobody wanted to talk about the great season Te’o had, just the fact that he had a girlfriend that did not exist for a year.The entire story was very bizzare and I believe it distracted him from performing well at the NFL combine last week. Te’o ran a below average 4.82 in the 40 yard dash and declined to compete in the bench press. He has plummeted down draft boards because of this.
I’m sitting here wondering why we are judging where football players should be drafted based on excersises they do without pads on. Lots of players have the measurables and tools to be great players but never become great. What happened to judging a player by what they actually do on the field? Manti had a great season, and before all of the hoopla came about, he was considered a top ten pick based on only his college career thus far. Not all great players are the biggest, strongest or fastest, it is what is on the inside that makes a player great. So before you write off this young man from being a great NFL player, watch some of his game film, and tell me hes not a damn good football player.
Dougie
Dougie, I’ll take a shot at this. I actually hope I’m wrong. I say ‘BUST’ with a capital ‘B’. The guy won every defensive award given. His 7 interceptions may be the reason. Notre Dame’s national popularity didn’t hurt. He had more tackles his sophomore year then he did in 2012. He had a horrible combine. Ran slow and refused to bench press. I just can’t get over the ‘girlfriend’ thing. This guy is going to make millions pushing, shoving and tackling the toughest guys in America and he was duped by a guy posing as a girl, come on !! His 8.69 tackles per game doesn’t even rank him in the top 50 tacklers in the NCAA. Like I said, I hope I’m wrong. The death of a leukemia stricken (boy) girlfriend is a crappy way to gain publicity. Let’s hope my Vikings get him late first round !!
Thanks,
F
F,
You are probably right. This entire thing is so bizarre that there must be something wrong with this guy upstairs. Hope we are all wrong and that he turns out to be a good player who gets straightened out. Just weeks befire this whole story broke,I was saying how polite and humble he was by deflecting his accomplishments to the entire team. Maybe he can play QB for the Vikes!
I definitely think there is some “Bust” potential in Te’o, but I think he can still contribute in the right setting. He was pushed around in the championship game, but the same goes for the entire defense. As far as the girlfriend story, it is embarrassing but he may as well just own it and move on. The Vikings should draft a receiver!