The gift of Manti Te'o

For those that you don't know Manti Te'o, he is a passionate football player who played for the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish. His natural capabilities to play the linebacker position has won him numerous awards and became known as a very much decorated collegiate football player. Manti is originally hailed from Oahu, Hawaii and he also received numerous awards as a high school football player.

Te'o whose nationality is Samoan comes from a family of seven. He is the second son of Brian and Ottilia Te'o and has five other siblings including four sisters and one brother. He began playing football at Punahou School a distinguished private school located in Honolulu, HI. Because of his stellar feat in just his first year of his varsity career and even with being just a high school sophomore in 2006, Te'o was selected in the second-team all-state roster. In his junior year, Manti won the Gatorade state player of the year and the Honolulu Advertiser state defensive player of the year in 2007. Due to his superior performance, recruiters from several colleges started to take notice in him. His senior year at Punahou School would eventually become one of his best performances to date.

You could discover at http://mantiteojersey.com/, if you want to learn more about this area of interest.

Prior to the start of his 2008-09 senior year, Te'o already received countless scholarship offers from state and national colleges. In actual fact, he received over 30 college football scholarship offers. He did not fail the expectations that were expected of him. Punahou won the Hawaii Football State Championship because of Manti's performance during the 2008 season. The Honolulu Advertiser even considered Te'o as the overall state player of the year. Because of his high school achievements, Manti Te'o was considered as one of the most decorated and greatly recruited players in the whole history of Hawaii. At the end of the season, Te'o committed to play for the University of Notre Dame.

Te'o got to play in his first college game on September 5, 2009. He entered the game during the second quarter against the Nevada Wolfpacks. His first collegiate start as a Fighting Irish was in opposition to the Purdue Boilermakers. He was able to make 63 tackles in his freshman year and was named the third-the majority number tackler completed by a Notre Dame freshman. He was included in the Freshman All-American team by the College Football News in December 8, 2009 On top of that, Rivals.com included him in the second-team Freshman All-American in the same year.

In 2010 during his sophomore year, they switched his position from outside linebacker to inside linebacker. This was Manti's ultimate football position. The switch happened by defensive coach Bob Diaco because the Notre Dame football team incorporated the 3-4 defensive scheme. Te'o accumulated a total of 133 tackles after the implementation of the new defensive scheme along with his true football skills. In the game in opposition to Stanford, he was able to get a total of 21 tackles which became his career high. This record broke the 2006 highest number of tackles done by a Notre Dame player. He was in the running for The Butkus Award and Bednarik Award which are given to the best collegiate defensive player. CNNSI included him in the second-team all-American football team.

In his junior year, Manti maintained his defensive prowess. During the 2011 season, he compilied a total of 128 tackles. Because of his outstanding accomplishment, he became a finalist to the Lott Trophy and Butkus Award. He was ultimately recognized as the 2011 FBS Independent Defensive Player of the Year. He was once again included in the second-team All-American teams by different organizations. By the end of the season, the outstanding collegiate football player Maxwell Award and the Chuck Bednarik Award as the college defensive player of the year was awarded to Manti.

Te'o became the team's leading tackler during his senior year, accumulating 300 career tackles overall. In addition to tackling, he had the nearly all interceptions in the team. In the history of college sports, Te'o is considered as among the a good number of decorated defensive players by numerous sports analyst. He was able to include the 2012 Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year Lott Trophy to his portfolio of awards. Furthermore, Manti was on the verge of winning the 2012 Heisman Trophy Award, but fell shy to Johnny Manziel. However, despite a perfect season with the Fighting Irish and the team's strong performance, they eventually lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide for the national title.

Manti's love for the game and his team mates has landed him where he is today, no matter what the news is reporting about him. His true football abilities has demonstrated to world that he can perform and contribute at the next level. He has showed good leadership, sportsmanship, and enthusiasm on the field which led his Fighting Irish to a undefeated season. NFL teams have shown interest in signing him for his superior performance and leadership skills on the field by which exemplifies a true football player. He is projected to be picked in the early rounds of the upcoming 2013 NFL draft, which he is currently training and preparing for. Even before his signing, the anticipation for which team to be handing off the Manti Te'o jersey will be the most watched selection during the NFL draft. The Manti Te'o journey to the NFL will be an epic event, if you've read this far thank you for being be part of it!

If you would like extra resources regarding Manti Te'o, then we invite you to checkout our awesome webpage http://www.squidoo.com/manti-teo-jersey. Otherwise, if perhaps you desire to get more general details about Manti Te'o, please visit this web site, Manti Te'o ESPN