After Falling to the Second Round, Manti Te'o Lands in San Diego

Sometimes, good things come to those who wait. At the Blue-Gold Game, Manti Te'o said that he was most looking forward to sharing the experience with his family when asked what he would enjoy the most about the draft. Te'o was hoping to go in the first round but it really wasn't that big of shock that he slipped a little. Then the second round started and six selections were made until, with the 39th pick of the NFL Draft, the San Diego Chargers select Manti Te'o linebacker Notre Dame.

I honestly did not see the Chargers as a team he would go to. I saw him replacing either Brian Urlacher in Chicago or Ray Lewis in Baltimore. Those would have been huge shoes to fill and that could have put a lot of pressure on him. Another place I saw him going was Minnesota to join fellow Domers Kyle Rudolph, John Carlson, Robert Blanton, Harrison Smith, and John Sullivan. The Vikings made sense because they have had success with Fighting Irish players, but they passed on Te'o three times.

When all three of those teams went by the wayside, where Te'o would end up could have been anywhere.
Although San Diego was a surprise, this is a good place for him. The team really doesn't have any big names on defense and linebacker is a huge need for them. So he should be able to go right in and start.

San Diego is also a city that does have a big polynesian population and will embrace him as a community leader. He could be the next Junior Seau. Congratulations and good luck Manti. You will be missed in South Bend.

Heading into day 3 of the draft, Theo Riddick, Cierre Wood, Zeke Motta, Robbie Toma, Braxton Cave, and Mike Golic are all still on the board. Hopefully, they all get drafted or a free agent contract. Good luck to all of them.

Tyler Eifert Is Now a Bengal, But Manti Te'o Still Waiting To Get His Name Called

With the 21st pick in the NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select Tyler Eifert Tight End from Notre Dame. As great as that sounded, that was the only highlight of the first night of the draft for Notre Dame. Manti Te'o  somewhat surprisingly did not get selected in the first round. It was surprising because he was passed on three times by the Minnesota Vikings who supposedly had interest in him. Chicago was also a bit of a surprise since they have to replace Brian Urlacher. The same can be said for Baltimore needing to replace Ray Lewis.

Going into day two, it will be interesting to see where Te'o ends up. He could literally go anywhere at this point.

In the mean time, Eifert can make plans to go to Cincinnati. He has an opportunity to go into a good young offense led by Andy Dalton. He will compliment Jermaine Gresham at the tight end spot. Other offensive weapons on that team are wide receiver AJ Green and running back Benjarvus Green-Ellis. The addition of Eifert really makes this offense more explosive.

Congratulations and good luck to Eifert. Te'o will be off the board very soon as well. Other domers to watch for in the later rounds are Cierre Wood, Theo Riddick, Zeke Motta, and Robbie Toma. Good luck to all these former Irish stars.

Defense Dominates in Spring Game

Whenever there is a Spring game, it is always a little tough to root too hard for one side or the other. You obviously want a good team all around and if one side just dominates, it can mean that one side is really good or the other side is really bad.

Well on Saturday the Irish defense just dominated the offense. I tend to be optimistic about that though because as Irish fans we wondered how the defense will look without Manti Teo'. It appears that Carlos Calabrese and Dan Fox can step right in without missing a beat. A more pressing matter for the defense would be replacing Zeke Motta at Safety as the only guy with any real experience is Austin Collinsworth who missed last year with injury.

On Saturday the defense looked solid. I really liked the pressure by Louis Nix and the surprise was Tyler Stockton.

Looking at the other side of the ball, the offense did not score a touchdown until late when the latest freshmen phenom quarterback Malik Zaire had a long touchdown pass against the fourth string. It was followed by the highlight of the day as Nix came in at quarterback and and ran over everybody.

The offensive line was a bit of a concern, but in all fairness they did go against one of the best fronts in the nation. In spite of the lack of scoring there were some positives on offense. Running backs George Atkinson and Cam McDaniel will have big shoes to fill with the departures of both Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood. Both had very nice games but Atkinson still has the bad habit of running high and Calabrese reminded him of that with a devastating hit.

Of all the quarterbacks, I thought Tommy Rees looked the best as he moved his team into scoring position on both of his series. But to be fair to Everett Golson, he was against the starters and to be honest I think the red shirt actually hurt him more than it helped him. I remember at least three plays where he was touched but could have escaped the pocket and made a play.

In spite of that, Golson did have some nice throws and there was one that should have been caught by Davaris Daniels for a touchdown.

Overall, I liked the effort and the team has put the Alabama loss behind them as well as all the offseason drama. If the spring game was any indication, I think we can expect another magical year in 2013.

What Did We Really Expect Gunner Kiel To Do?

After being a highly talked about recruit last year, Gunner Kiel found himself buried as the fourth string quarterback during Notre Dame's great season. Therefore, it really should be no surprise that he announced he was leaving Notre Dame earlier this month. Yet, I cannot believe the amount of articles I have seen saying he is afraid of competition. That is really unfair to the young man.

Let's just look at this practically. When he came to South Bend last year, he saw a situation that looked promising for him. He saw two juniors in Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix who would only be there two more seasons and really only affecting one year of his eligibility. The X-factor was Everett Golson who was the quarterback who had no prior game experience. Because of that, Golson lost no eligibility his freshman year.

Kiel entered a situation that nobody could foresee happening the way it did. He had no idea that Golson would overtake both Rees and Hendrix and progress the way he did. Now Kiel is in a situation where Golson will be there for three more years barring any unforeseen circumstances. In the event Golson goes down, the team is very confident Rees can come in and the team won't miss a beat.

Therefore, it really isn't an issue of being afraid to compete. It is a matter of being buried on the depth chart and having to wait a long time when he has a chance to compete right away for a starting job at another school. What did anybody really expect him to do?

I wish him nothing but the best.

In Other News:

The basketball team upset #12 Marquette in the Big East Tournament 73-65. Pat Connaughton led the way with 18 points.  Next up is Louisville as the Irish bid to win the Big East in their final year in the conference before joining the ACC.

Manti Te'o Just Doesn't Seem Like Himself

After such an inspiring 2012 season that involved overcoming personal tragedy, Manti Te'o learned at an award show that one of his tragedies was a big hoax. We all know the story and how embarrassing it was for him. What still remains to be seen is whether or not Te'o will ever get passed this.

The BCS title game was the worst game of his college career and he did not look like himself. Now we know why. Now after his poor performance at the NFL combine, we still don't know. While I am not one to put too much weight on work out sessions and am more concerned with on field performance, Te'o just has a different vibe to him right now on the field. He does not look like the inspirational leader he was last season.  He needs a much better performance next month at his pro day to get a better draft positioning.

In interviews, he sounds fine and says the right things. Now he needs to take it to the field.

This came two days after Tyler Eifert was the most impressive tight end. Running backs Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick also had nice workouts, but neither really stood out among the other runners.

Tyler Eifert Shines At the NFL Combine

 As the NFL Combine got underway on Saturday, much of the focus regarding Notre Dame was on Manti Te'o's press conference where he addressed the media with questions that mostly covered the story that just won't go away.  Te'o did well for himself in the conference and said that he has no indication that the incident will hurt his draft stock. We shall see on that one.

That unfortunately overshadowed Tyler Eifert's big day who solidified a likely first round selection and is the top tight end according to the experts. I have to be honest. I am not a big fan of using what they do in shorts as an indicator. I do believe Eifert is the best tight end in the draft, but I make that assessment based on his on field performance in both blocking and catching. His commitment to the blocking game last season really helped him.

For what it is worth, Eifert ran a 4.68 40, benched 22 reps, and had a veritcal leap 35 1/2 inches. Mike Mayock of the NFL Network who also does Notre Dame's home games on NBC, thinks Atlanta would be a good place for him regardless of whether or not Tony Gonzalez retires.

Braxston Cave also had a solid workout with the offensive lineman.

Time For Notre Dame to Move On and Get Ready For Spring

After 2012 was the best year for Notre Dame since 1988, it ended with a chain of events that put a damper on it. It started with the National Championship butt kicking they received from Alabama. Then came the scare of Coach Kelly flirting with the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles. That fear was quickly replaced with the whole Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax. That made Notre Dame very nervous about the NCAA Nazi's placing sanctions on the school for something they weren't involved in. With Mr. Tuiasosopo admitting that he set the whole thing up, it appears that while Te'o will have to continually answer questions about it, but Notre Dame appears to be done with it.

With all that going on, Notre Dame very quietly has put together it's best recruiting class in years. Five star linebacker Jaylon Smith might be able to be the replacement for Te'o. Another huge five star recruit is running back Greg Bryant who can compete with George Atkinson and Cam McDaniel to fill the huge holes left by Theo Riddick and Cierre wood.

The offensive line will leave holes to fill as well with the graduations of Zack Martin, Mike Golic, and Braxton Cave. The Irish do have a host of four and five star recruits along the line featuring guys like Hunter Bivin from Kentucky.

Don't blink but spring practice is right around the corner and he Blue-Gold game is on April 20. The Irish need to focus on not only filling those holes among others but also taking Everett Golson to the next level in his development. The progress he made from the the start of last season to the USC game was incredible. Now the next step is for him to be able to run the offense at the fast pace Coach Kelly likes.

This is a big year for Notre Dame not only because the expectations are once again where they need to be in  South Bend, but also because this is the last year that Notre Dame will play Michigan and Big Ten rivals (Michigan State and Purdue) will likely be gone too. That is of course due to the agreement Notre Dame has with the ACC to play five teams annually.  Ironically, this year the Irish will only play Pittsburgh who is also a new face in the conference. Therefore winning these games not only matters for rankings but also for lifelong bragging rights in the end of these great rivalries.

Notre Dame also plays traditional rival USC which appears to be a down program. They have traditional service academy opponents Navy and Air Force. They have a rematch in South Bend with Oklahoma. They also have non traditional opponents in Temple and Arizona State. Senior day will be against BYU. While those are mostly formidable opponents, those should all be wins with an experienced Golson and still a dominant defense even without Te'o and Kapron Lewis-Moore.

That will all lead to a showdown in Palo Alto with Stanford led by Kevin Hogan in a game that will likely have national championship implications for both teams.