Hawaii News Interview Manti Te'o

[HawaiianIrish]

76 Premium Profile: Manti Te'o | KHON2 Hawaii's News Leader

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Te'o says leaving school early to realize a life-long pro-football dream is a possibility, but not until he accomplishes what he left the 808 to do first.

Degree or National Championship?

 

[HawaiianIrish]

Knowing Manti that degree from Notre Dame is gonna really mean alot... GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bert2834]

Degree is what he is waiting on.

If he gets that, he is gone to the NFL.

 

[Rudy89]

good to see someone realizing how important a degree is. Just another reason to love Manti.

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

I would be sad to see him go, but I do not begrudge him at all for considering it. He made a tough choice to come to ND in the first place and I am sure he will put the same thought and prayer into his next step as well.

He has a bright future ahead of him no matter what road he chooses.

Can't wait for Sept. 3rd!

 

[Rhode Irish]

Whether he decides that this season is it or he sticks around for 2012, Manti will go down as one of my all-time favorites. The kid is the absolute goods in every imaginable way. I know he will make a thoughtful decision and he will do what is best for him. That very well may be coming back for his senior season, but if it isn't you can't begrudge him that.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

If he's intent on his degree, he's coming back for his senior year. I can't recall a single football player ever managing to finish in less than 7 semesters.

 

[Rhode Irish]

True, but if he is a few credits short he could decide that he will piece those credits together over the next couple of years and move on from a football standpoint.

 

[Ironman8]

If he's intent on his degree, he's coming back for his senior year. I can't recall a single football player ever managing to finish in less than 7 semesters.

I could be mistaken, but I thought Sean Cwynar just finished in three years, and will start Graduate school this fall. Could be wrong though, but thought I read that somewhere.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

True, but if he is a few credits short he could decide that he will piece those credits together over the next couple of years and move on from a football standpoint.

Normally I'd agree, but the following quote implies otherwise:

Te'o says leaving school early to realize a life-long pro-football dream is a possibility, but not until he accomplishes what he left the 808 to do first.

He's said that repeatedly, as well. I think we can take Te'o at his word here.

So unless Te'o is a super student who will somehow manage to finish his degree by December 2011 or May 2012, I feel pretty confident that he's coming back.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I could be mistaken, but I thought Sean Cwynar just finished in three years, and will start Graduate school this fall. Could be wrong though, but thought I read that somewhere.

Ugh, you're right. From a Brian Hamilton article in the Chicago Tribune:

Thanks to enrolling early and taking between 15 and 17 credit hours per semester — plus six credits during a summer in London in 2009 — Cwynar graduated in May with a 3.377 GPA.

So it's technically possible, but requires super-human effort. Manti didn't enroll early, though; does anyone know if he's taking extra classes? (Please say no...)

 

[Rhode Irish]

I'm as hopeful as anyone that Manti is at ND next year. It is also incredibly selfish on my part. If he can get his degree and make a living playing football, he has to consider it.

I do think if we go 12-1 or 11-2 this year and finish in the final top-5, that might be enough to persuade him to come back. I do think he wants to win a national championship. The degree may be goal 1A, but a championship would be 1B.

 

[GDomer09]

& the difference between ND & other D1 Power Teams is................This! Love being an Irish fan!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kak7304]

Most football players accumulate enough credits to graduate early because they take a few classes every summer. I just saw an article saying that Floyd will have enough credits to graduate at the end of this semester. This allows graduating players to prepare for the combine and NFL draft without having to worry about class.

 

[BeauBenken]

Degree or National Championship?

If you watch the video for it, Te'o says that it's the degree that he came here for.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Most football players accumulate enough credits to graduate early because they take a few classes every summer. I just saw an article saying that Floyd will have enough credits to graduate at the end of this semester. This allows graduating players to prepare for the combine and NFL draft without having to worry about class.

That's standard for football players, though. Finishing a degree in December of your senior year and declaring for the draft isn't considered "leaving early". So if we take Te'o at his word that he won't leave without his degree, he would have to have overloaded his academic schedules quite a bit thus far in order to leave early with his degree; which apparently a few admirable masochists have done recently (see: Cwynar and Stewart), but I feel like if Manti was doing something like that, we would know about it.

Even if he had managed to sneak in an extra 15 credits over the last two years, what good would graduating in May do him? He'd need to have cranked out an extra 30 credits to graduate by this December and enter the next draft; I'm not sure such a feat would even have been possible.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Will someone get his academic advisor on the horn asap. I've got a thing or two to discuss with this joker.

 

[KPENN]

In his pre-draft blog Ian Williams said he thought Manti would be back for his senior season. I choose to believe Ian

 

[irishtrinity]

if we could keep kids 4/5 yrs we would have no problem going to BCS games every yr...

i love Manti he is a defensive god i love his passion for football.. if he stays it will help us more than anything right now, if he leaves i'll still have love for him... god i hope he has to come back...