Football: Te'o looks like a five-star recruit
So that's what a five-star recruit looks like.
Utahns had one in their midst this week, as linebacker Manti Te'o, the all-everything recruit from Punahou High in Honolulu, Haw., participated in the All-Poly Camp at Bountiful High.
I was only able to get to the camp Thursday and part of Friday, but from all accounts, Te'o is the real deal. The term "man among boys" comes to mind.
The thing that stuck out to me as I watched him was his leadership ability. He seemed as genuinely happy when a teammate made a big play as when he made one himself. Guys seemed to rally around him.
Thursday night, Te'o told me that he has 32 offers.
Does BYU have a shot at this kid who is LDS and who has a cousin, Shiloah Te'o, who signed with the Cougars in February?
"Definitely," he said. "All 32 schools are still in it. I have eliminated anybody."
Te'o said he will try to narrow his choices down to a workable number -- between 5 and 10 -- by the time his senior football season starts.
I asked him what he was looking for in a college and whether it was important to him to go to a BCS school.
"The one priority I have is to serve a [LDS] mission," he said. "I tell every college that talks to me that I am going to serve a mission."
Te'o said that so far, every school has told him that won't be a problem.
"That part of it has been amazing," he said.
Te'o turns 19 in January of 2010, so he would like to play the 2009 season and leave shortly after it ends.
Utahns had one in their midst this week, as linebacker Manti Te'o, the all-everything recruit from Punahou High in Honolulu, Haw., participated in the All-Poly Camp at Bountiful High.
I was only able to get to the camp Thursday and part of Friday, but from all accounts, Te'o is the real deal. The term "man among boys" comes to mind.
The thing that stuck out to me as I watched him was his leadership ability. He seemed as genuinely happy when a teammate made a big play as when he made one himself. Guys seemed to rally around him.
Thursday night, Te'o told me that he has 32 offers.
Does BYU have a shot at this kid who is LDS and who has a cousin, Shiloah Te'o, who signed with the Cougars in February?
"Definitely," he said. "All 32 schools are still in it. I have eliminated anybody."
Te'o said he will try to narrow his choices down to a workable number -- between 5 and 10 -- by the time his senior football season starts.
I asked him what he was looking for in a college and whether it was important to him to go to a BCS school.
"The one priority I have is to serve a [LDS] mission," he said. "I tell every college that talks to me that I am going to serve a mission."
Te'o said that so far, every school has told him that won't be a problem.
"That part of it has been amazing," he said.
Te'o turns 19 in January of 2010, so he would like to play the 2009 season and leave shortly after it ends.
3 Comments:
Kids always seem surprised that schools don't have a problem with them going on a mission, even though so many others have gone on missions before them. Is there a school in America that hasn't had an LDS missionary athlete at some point? Why are kids always surprised at this?
It hasn't always been true that the kids were really welcome to go on missions and still expect their scholarship to be waiting for them when they return. Until recently, Pete Carroll has told his LDS recruits that they could not come to USC if they planned a mission. the Univ. of Washington, until recently, has done the same and has even dropped the scholarship of kids who decided to go anyway.
I'm pretty sure it's just in the last few years that other schools have allowed most recruits to go on missions. It's really disruptive and they're often worthless for the first year they are back.
But, most coaches would do anything to get Te'0.
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