'09 HI LB Manti Te'o (Official Offer)

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

I'm with you marine

[Irishlew]

getting him will be bigger then landing Clausen...mark my words.

[irishmarine]

he will be an impact player from the beginning. even if its just on 2nd team. he will start quickly though i think

[WeisWeisBaby]

Rumor has it he wants Clausen's 7 and Jimmy ain't one to give up his number

[Irishlew]

my sources are telling me that #5 is the number he wants. One for every star.

[Polish Leppy 22]

I wonder if he's being offered the same package Reggie Bush got...the one that actually made Bush take a pay cut when he got drafted

[IHateMarkMay]

Daily Herald - Dickson: In search of Manti Te'o ... and other recruiting myths and legends

Dickson: In search of Manti Te'o ... and other recruiting myths and legends
Daily Herald

With everything that I'd read, heard and seen about Manti Te'o, I half expected him to arrive at this week's All-Poly Football Camp like Superman landing on Lex Luthor's kryptonite island in "Superman Returns."
For those who haven't been paying attention, Manti Te'o might be the single-most recruited LDS athlete ever. He's a bone-crushing 6-foot-2, 225-pound man-child linebacker from Punahau High School in Hawaii. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds and is ranked as a Top 10 recruit. Just about every major football school in America wants him.

Go ahead, search for him on YouTube and prepare to be amazed.

Summer is the time for football prospects to show college coaches what they can do, and Te'o is among several hundred Polynesian and non-Polynesian studs (Haoli's are welcome, too) at the All-Poly Football Camp, which was created in 2001 by Manti's uncle, Alema Te'o.

So I gather up my two boys (so I can use the carpool lane) and trek up to Bountiful on Thursday to take in a few hours of the All-Poly Camp. I don't know Manti Te'o from Adam (nor does he know who I am) but as the BYU football beat writer for the Herald, I know I'll be writing a lot about him in the near future. I just want to see what all the fuss it about.

There is a rainbow of colored uniforms sitting in the stands at Bountiful, so I don't think I'll be able to find Te'o until I run into somebody that knows him, like Total Blue Sports guys Talo Steves and Brandon Gurney. But after the players listen to a pep talk from Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh, they start to file out of the stands onto the practice field. And for some reason, my eyes come to rest on one kid. I mean, he's not even doing anything; he's just standing there, waiting to run out onto the field. I squint to get a better look at the piece of tape on the back of his helmet.

It reads, "Manti Te'o."

So he passes the eyeball test, much like Luke Staley did when I first saw him as a freshman at BYU back in 1999. During one of the first summer workouts, I saw Staley take a screen pass and run about 20 yards against air.

Wow.

Some people just look like athletes, and Te'o does. In fact, if he were running onto the BYU practice field instead of this high school football camp today, no one would bat an eye.

How much of Te'o is myth? How much is legend? Did he really call himself "The King?" Did he really tear off a 100-yard run from scrimmage last year for Punahau (everyone swears the back end of the ball was touching the goal line)?

It would seem like BYU has some huge advantages in recruiting Te'o: Religion, atmosphere, friends and family and a good football program. But BYU is not a program that has been to a BCS bowl game, or even has a realistic shot at winning a national title.

USC does, and on a Trojan recruiting site, Te'o is called a "once in a generation player."

USC wants Manti.

So do Penn State, and UCLA, and Texas Tech ...

Te'o participates in a "thud" tackling drill. The kid across the line from him is probably saying to himself, "Oh crap, that's Manti Te'o!" and when he tries to push Te'o, he couldn't budge him.

Scout.com says, "Te'o is a man amongst boys on film; it's very difficult to find any physical weaknesses in this kid's game at outside linebacker."

Te'o is the crown jewel for a ridiculously deep BYU recruiting class of 2009. Manti is a five-star recruit, and at least 10 others are four stars. Three of those 10 four-star guys -- Jray Galea'i (DB, Kahuku), Adam Timo (RB, Snow Canyon) and Craig Bills (DB, Timpview) -- have already committed to the Cougars.

BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall has said he doesn't like the recruiting process because it gives kids too much of a sense of entitlement. But he plays the recruiting game because it's the lifeblood of a college football program.

The All-Poly Camp is a good one. Not only does the camp provide players with exposure to more than 60 college coaches, but Alema Te'o also holds academic workshops for ACT test preparation, NCAA clearinghouse information and life skills.

Alema Te'o addresses the players before the beginning of camp, and gives them two pieces of advice: "Pay attention and go full speed."

And then, I kid you not: Former BYU and NFL offensive coordinator Norm Chow (now with UCLA) was working with one set of quarterbacks and current BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae was coaching the other group.

Recruiting makes strange bedfellows.

There are players from all over the world at the camp, including BYU wide receiver recruit Ross Apo from Texas and two teams from Samoa. Then there's Timpanogos linebacker JoJo Pili. Last year, Pili was named a defensive all-star at the camp.

"This camp is really intense," Pili said. "We'll never get a chance like this again to make a name for ourselves."

So will Manti Te'o end up in Provo? Haven't a clue. Chew on this, though: He's only attending two camps this summer, the All-Poly and the BYU camp.

All I know is, Manti looks like he can play all day.