Manti Te'o's Notre Dame Pro Day

Manti Te’o runs a bit faster at Notre Dame Pro Day

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Manti Te'o will have a very good Pro Day today at Notre Dame.  It is difficult to think that Teo's performance at the combine in Indianapolis last month was a true indication of the skill level he possesses.  Combine his combine performance with his last college game in the National Championship vs. Alabama and many have written Te'o off as a fraud.  Many have even gone as far as to suggest that he will not be able to make an NFL roster.  Then there is the fact that Te'o will have to overcome the debacle of his fictitious girlfriend and find his place in an NFL locker room.  This may very well be the most difficult test that Te'o has faced thus far, establishing credibility in an NFL locker room.  NFL players will not allow the Te'o frenzy to overcome their locker room, that is unless the locker room belongs to the Jets and Rex Ryan referring to the Tebow infusion.  Purely a publicity stunt by the Jets, but that is another story for another time.  Back to Te'o, can he play in the NFL?  Is he physical enough to play MLB in the NFL.  Alabama and their physical running style exposed Te'o.  There are those that have suggested that Te'o was distracted in the National Championship game.  I do not agree.  Alabama and the SEC in general provide a snapshot to NFL Sunday's.  Te'o has a long way to go to undo the damage that was done in the BCS National Championship game vs. Alabama and at the combine last month.  I am rooting for him.  He seems like a good guy.  I do not want to believe that he was involved in the girlfriend hoax.  I wish him the best as he prepares for the draft.  There are many NFL teams looking for a difference MLB.  Te'o was once upon a time in that category and without ever reporting to an NFL camp he is now in question.  His work ethic, character and passion for the game will be tested in the next month.  We will follow his journey and keep you posted.

Te'os Pro Day Update: 

 

Manti Te’o has run his long-awaited 40-yard dashes at Notre Dame’s Pro Day, and Te’o was a little faster today than he was at last month’s NFL Scouting Combine.

Todd McShay of ESPN timed Te’o at 4.75 seconds in his first 40 and 4.71 seconds in his second, and that was the general consensus of the other reporters on the scene: Te’o improved upon his 4.82-second 40 from the Scouting Combine by somewhere around one-tenth of a second.

So will this matter? It certainly won’t hurt: Te’o said after the Combine that he’s “obviously” faster than he showed in Indianapolis, and now he can back that talk up with his times.

But a difference of one-tenth of a second in the 40 is probably not going to make a huge difference for Te’o. We talk about 40-yard dashes at this time of year because we don’t have much else to talk about, but what really matters is how a player plays football. The teams that had doubts about Te’o before today will still have doubts, and the teams that liked Te’o before today will still like him.

  Courtesy of Michael David Smith AP

 

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