By Brian Hamilton Tribune reporter
3:43 p.m. CST, December 19, 2011
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Before the final home game of Michael Floyd's college career, Notre Dame's record-smashing receiver was approached by teammate Manti Te'o with a request.
When you go out there for your senior walk, remember how it feels, Te'o told Floyd. Because I have a question for you.
Afterward, once Floyd took the traditional post-Senior Day lap at Notre Dame Stadium, Te'o met up with Floyd. Less than a year earlier, the Irish receiver elected to forgo possible NFL millions to return to school. Now Te'o, facing the same decision, had that question.
"At the end of the game, I asked him, 'Was it worth it?'' Te'o recalled Monday. "He said, 'There's nothing like it.' That's something I wanted to experience, along with all the other things that come with being in college. You're only a senior once."
On Monday, Te'o held his first media session since announcing he would return to the Irish in 2012 and reiterated the flash points that made up his mind -- primarily, the value he placed on senior year memories versus the possible riches earned by a first-round NFL Draft pick.
"Growing up, we didn't have much," Te'o said. "But looking back, those are the happiest times of my life. And it's the moments that you share with the people you love that you take with you.
"Not to get all spiritual and everything, but one day we're all not going to be here. I'm not going to be able to take a Cadillac, I'm not going to be able to take a big mansion. The only thing I'm going to have are the memories I have here at Notre Dame and with my family back home. Millions of dollars can't buy them."
There probably are several ways to take Floyd's "There's nothing like it" comment, but all that matters is how Te'o took it, and he took it to mean another year of grinding at the college level and seeing his parents on Senior Day was worth the trouble.
To Te'o, that was reinforced just two days before he made his decision public, when he watched a video at the Notre Dame awards show featuring senior parents reflecting on their sons' time with the Irish.
"When I was watching that senior video, seeing my teammates run out of that tunnel for the last time, seeing them greet their parents, seeing some of them in pads and seeing some of them on crutches -- I was always taught to make a decision on the worst-case scenario," Te'o said.
"And that would be my worst-case scenario, to come out on crutches. I had to ask that question: Would it be worth it? And would I still be happy with the decision? I came to the (decision): No doubt in my mind, it would be worth it."
bchamilton@tribune.com
Twitter @ChiTribHamilton
