All eyes on Manti Teo during Pro Day at Notre Dame
Posted: Mar 26, 2013 7:54 PM EDT | Updated: Nov 5, 2014 8:17 PM EDT
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame’s football players got one more chance to show the professional football community what they have to offer. Tuesday was Pro Day for players and scouts.
There were 14 guys out there. Eight already had some time with scouts at the combine in February, including Manti Te'o.
Following the theme of the season, all eyes were on Te’o again.
After running a disappointing 4.82 40-meter dash at the combine last month, Manti Te'o's speed on the field has been called into question.
"It motivates you to just improve. Although these drills that we do, these tests that we do, it's frustrating, but it's a great learning opportunity and a great way for us to just go out there and compete,” said Te’o.
Scouts and analysts predicted that Te'o needed to get his time on the 40 down around the 4.7 range to stay a first round draft pick.
Te'o delivered.
"I definitely did. I felt good. And it was just kind of like, a grand finale kind of thing you know with everybody there. I had guys around me that I spent the last four years with that I was comfortable with and it was more comfortable being out here and performing here at Notre Dame and so I was very pleased with what happened,” said Te’o.
Right now, Te'o's time is still unofficial.
Te'o said he heard that he was somewhere in the low 4.7's but some scouts are reporting a 4.69.
Te'o will be staying at Notre Dame until the draft.
Te’o is projected to be drafted anywhere from 20th to 32nd
Notre Dame released the following notes from the day:
- 14 former Notre Dame football players worked out at the annual Notre Dame Football Pro Day at the Guglielmino Athletics Complex and Loftus Sports Center.
- Height and weight measurements, vertical jump, broad jump and bench press were all conducted at Haggar Fitness Complex within the Guglielmino Complex.
- The 40-yard dash, pro agility (20-yard shuttle), 60-yard shuttle, three-cone drill and position-specific drills all occurred on Meyo Field at Loftus Sports Center.
- Players worked out in front of representatives from 27 of 32 NFL teams. One general manager and numerous position coaches and scouts were in attendance.
- Braxston Cave, Jordan Cowart, Tyler Eifert, Mike Golic Jr., John Goodman, Kapron Lewis-Moore, Zeke Motta, Theo Riddick, Chris Salvi, Jamoris Slaughter, Manti Te’o, Robby Toma, Ben Turk and Cierre Wood all participated in the Pro Day. Goodman, Salvi and Toma were the only players to take part in every drill.
- Manti Te’o posted a 40-yard dash time of 4.69 seconds. That time by Te’o would have ranked as the fifth-fastest 40-yard time by an inside linebacker at the NFL Combine this year. Among all linebackers, Te’o’s 4.69 time would have ranked ninth. Of note is that arguably the top linebacker on most NFL mock drafts – Georgia’s Jarvis Jones– ran 4.92 at the Bulldogs’ pro day.