Irish find treasure in Hawaiian sands

Irish find treasure in Hawaiian sands
Linebacker rejects UCLA, USC and heads for Notre Dame.

By BOB WIENEKE
Tribune Staff Writer

He won't be the most famous person to graduate from his high school, Punahou School in Honolulu. No, that distinction would fall to the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

He isn't the highest rated player in the recruiting class of 2009. No, that's running back Bryce Brown of Wichita, Kan.

What Manti Te'o also isn't is a USC Trojan or a UCLA Bruin. And for close followers of Notre Dame football, that might be the nicest sound they've heard in quite some time.

Te'o, the nation's seventh-best high school prospect, signed a national letter-of-intent with the Irish on Wednesday, becoming the biggest defensive name to sign with ND in who knows how long.

Irish fans will go gaga over Te'o (pronounced TAY-oh) being a 6-foot-2, 225-pound hitting machine who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds. And they should, because in Te'o, head coach Charlie Weis is gaining a player who many expect to make an impact, if not start when Nevada rolls into Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 5.

But part of the curiosity in Te'o is the non-football part of him.

He's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and here he is signing on to play football at the most widely known Catholic school in America.

He visited Notre Dame on Nov. 22, the same day the Irish lost to an inferior team, the day it was so cold he watched the second half from indoors, the day students pelted the Irish bench with snowballs. And yet he decided to pick Notre Dame, the school 4,300 miles from Honolulu.

He's a projected difference-maker on the field, one USC — ridiculously talented USC — identified as its top target. And yet he's an Eagle Scout. And a guy who has worked with the Special Olympics. And the Shriners Hospital for Children. And early childhood programs.

"Football is something I love to do," Te'o said via cell phone Wednesday night, the latest interview in a day full of them, "but it's not something that fully describes me."

Describing him on the football field has come easiest. Indianapolis product Zach Martin, another of Notre Dame's signees, played against Te'o last month at the Under Armour All-America Game in Orlando, Fla. The two butted heads a couple of times in the game, but Martin had heard about Te'o from other players who had practiced against him all week.

"It just seemed like he was on a different level than everyone," Martin, an offensive lineman, said. "It's a huge get. I was hoping that he would make the right decision."

That decision wasn't final until early Wednesday morning, after a Tuesday evening that included some prayer with family.

"I finally decided I've got to do this," Te'o said. "Notre Dame has always been on my mind. I just sat there and I fell asleep for a couple hours and then I woke up and had that feeling like, 'You know what? Notre Dame is where I've got to go, and that's where I'll go.'"

Because of his religious affiliation, BYU seemed like a natural. But he eliminated the Mormon Church-operated school a few weeks ago, whittling his list to ND, UCLA and USC. Still, whenever the Trojans are in the hunt for any coveted player, they always seem like the team to beat. As far ahead as the SC program might be right now, football was only part of Te'o's equation.

"I had to take out football because football can only take you so far," he said. "I wanted to make sure that the school I would to go to, no matter what, if I got hurt in football or if football didn't go that well, I would still be there. I just feel that with Notre Dame's tradition and their athletics and their academics, it'll be a perfect fit."

Part of that fit was that if he decides to leave for a year or two following his freshman season on a church mission, he will do so with Weis' blessing.

"We'll see what happens when the time comes," Te'o said.

In the coming months, expectations about how he fits in the Irish defense and what his long-term potential will be will dominate football talk.

Te'o has his own expectations outside of football.

"I feel you've got to always be an example," he said. "It's not always about you. It's about something bigger than you. It's about being a good person. If I can show others how to just be a good person and take care of each other, that's my main goal."

Staff writer Bob Wieneke:
bwieneke@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6428