Manti Te'o, LB Notre Dame

[MakoShark]

Like I said Steve. There's a lot that can be read into it. Your take is an optimistic one. Just to play 'Devils Advocate', it worries me that the 'Old Man' is schooling the kid. Sure, he took Eric Berry to school just last year but Te'o can expect to face much younger and quicker TE's when the season starts. The league is trending towards TE heavy attacks, so it's great that he has a guy in Gates to practice against. I hope that his supposed high football IQ will enhance his ability to learn and keep him ahead of the curve. It would be nice if there were a veteran SS behind him to help with some of the TE burden, IMO.

[Steve]

OK, let me take a different take on it. How many young talented TE come on the scene and light up the league their rookie years? Almost none. Very, very few rookie TE can do much more then win a starting job, unless your name is Jimmy Graham, and that is largely because he can't block (all he is asked to do is learn to run routes). How many rookie RB come in and really catch a ton of passes? Again not that many, although I am sure there are a couple.

So, maybe part of the problem is that the TE and RB, it's not about their physical ability. Being quick or fast isn't that important. If it was, why didn't Ladarius Green have a monster rookie year, after his terrific combine performance? Probably because, like all the other rookies exposed to the NFL, it's not about the physical gifts. It's about playing skillfully. Running routes. Making cuts. Reading the D and adjusting the routes. In short it is a mental game. Teo can play the mental game, and on top of that, he is faster and quicker then a lot of NFL ILB. He just isn't as fast or quick as the truely elite ILB. But lots of good ILB have very ordinary physical gifts. Zach Thomas was much smaller then Teo, and not as fast, although he had good quickness.

As far as Gates goes, remember, he faced a huge amount of double coverage. We just couldn't beat other teams badly enough to get them to stop. The reason Gates schooled Berry was that KC felt like Berry could handle Gates one on one, and Gates proved that he couldn't. Gates is not the player he used to be. I don't think he can go out and dominate like he used to. He cannot beat the double teams he used to. But he can still be effective. You still have to scheme around him.

If Teo can cover Gates one on one, it still means he can cover most TE, who are not anywhere near as good as Gates. A hurting Gates with less production is still better then all but the top few TE.

[Fleet]

Im not too worried about Te'o getting schooled by Gates. Its been reported that Gates is as fit and healthy as hes been in a long time. Over the past couple seasons ive been pretty critical about the shape Gates was in. In fact it seemed like a lot of players under Norv diminished Physically. Rivers even looks thinner this season. I think the new regime has already done a great job of getting the guys to focus more and take this more seriously. I expect Gates to have a big year. I also think its great that Te'o is struggling with Gates because i believe hes s student of the game and will adapt. No better way to test your skills and where your at then when your up against one of the best. Gates' straight line speed may be diminished but getting off the line and separating...hes still got that. I think any Safety in the league would struggle against a healthy gates. The reason why route running is so important is because its really hard...even for the best pass defenders in the league....to cover guys. Its also another reason why Vincent Brown is going to be a star. He runs precise routes.

[ICE]

I am a big ND fame and followed Manti's career at ND pretty close and the dude is a baller - a stud! I can not believe we were lucky enough to get this guy let alone get him where we did - he will be the steal of the draft. I don't care about his fake GF or getting smoked in the title game - he will be a great player and leader on this team for years. Freaking stoked!

[Fleet]

I think he sucked in the title game because of the drama around his fake gf. That had to make it hard to focus. Whether he deserved the backlash or not he had to have been in hell leading up to the game. Of course the game important but his career was in trouble. had the catfish not happened and he played his game hes probably a top 15 pick. Hell i had him top 10 before the game.

[MakoShark]

This threads a strong candidate for resurection...either way it turns out

[Steve]

Gates has always been able to get separation, even when he couldn't run because of his feet. He looked like he was in slow motion, but still he seemed to separate. I think he is just one of those great route runners, so if you can cover his route running, from a technique standpoint, you can cover anyone.

As far as Teo's ability to run and cover top TE with good physical gifts, he spent a lot of time working against his college teammate Tyler Eifert, who was the 1st TE taken in the draft (1st round, 21st overall to cinci). The You tube clips at the top of the thread show him covering Eifert at IMG just before the draft.

[6025]

Manti sporting the new uniform - no more toilet seat collars.

[Big Dog]

Hacksaw said he looks "lost" out their ... but I think he is talking out of his ass ...

By the time of the season opener, Manti will be looking like #12 overall pick and Fluker like the 2nd day pick ...

[Steve]

Does it really matter what rookies look like at the season opener? How good did you look at the first big day of your first job out of college?

And even if either or both of them looks great after 1 game, who cares about that? What were people saying about Harris after game 1 last season? Now, most people don't even seem to have him figure into the future, yet they were all talking about how maybe he could take over for Clary after such an impressive showing.

Draft picks need to be ranked off more than just 1 game, and more than just 1 year. Players just don't get enough reps in practice or games to really master the mental or physical skills.

[Heatmiser]

I am a big ND fame and followed Manti's career at ND pretty close and the dude is a baller - a stud! I can not believe we were lucky enough to get this guy let alone get him where we did - he will be the steal of the draft. I don't care about his fake GF or getting smoked in the title game - he will be a great player and leader on this team for years. Freaking stoked!

I like ND, but honestly, they had no business being in that title game against the Tide, record or not. EVERYONE on ND looked second rate against Bama. I think Teo just tried to do too much to compensate and that was a big part of the poor result. After a couple of plays, someone who is as football smart as they say he is would immediately see that his team had slim to no chance so he had to try to make something happen. Just my theory.

TG

[Steve]

One of the problems I have with the college bowl system is the fact that there is this huge disconnect between the season and the bowls. You play the regular season, then take a month off and play the bowl game. Is it any wonder that some teams respond well and others don't? Alabama has a ton of bowl experience and expect to be playing in the Championship every year (and the last 2), so I think they are expecting the season to go on through January. ND has been bad, and I don't think they were focused enough, and maybe they just shut down at the end of the season.

The other issue is, who else was really good enough to beat Alabama? I know ND didn't have a great chance, but who was better? The only way ND doesn't deserve to be in the game is if someone better wasn't. I buy that ND wasn't going to beat AL, but I don't (didn't) see another option.

Teo basically admitted to panicking, along with a lot of his teammates, all of them trying to make a big play once they got down.