Getty Images In the end, the pull of Johnny Football, and the traditional voting preference for an offensive player, was too much for even Manti Te’o to overcome.
But make no mistake, Saturday night’s Heisman Trophy ceremony was another celebration of Te’o's excellence this season, an award that’s aspirations were all but defined by Notre Dame’s star linebacker’s excellence on the field and courage off of it.
Still, Heisman voters handed the victory to redshirt freshman Johnny Manziel rather emphatically, with Manziel garnering 474 first place votes, easily besting Te’o's 321 and Kansas State quarteback Collin Klein’s 60. The young quarterback who dazzled voters with a highlight reel that featured incredible runs and sterling passing numbers, carried every region of voting except for the Midwest. His victory over No. 1 Alabama likely overshadowed any missteps, whether they be off the field arrests or three-interception games.
Before anybody loses sleep mourning the loss for Te’o, consider the effect the Hawaiian linebacker had on college football this year. Heralded all week for his tremendous season, Te’o's trophy case won’t miss the bronze stiff-arming ball carrier, as it’ll be filled with the Bednarik, Butkus, Nagurski, Lombardi, Maxwell and Walter Camp awards. That’s the most awards a defensive player has won in college football’s history, surpassing Heisman winner Charles Woodson, who took home five postseason awards in 1997.
Almost more impressive was the effect Te’o had on the crowd in New York Saturday evening. The room looked like a Hawaiian Luau, with the room filled with leis and traditional Hawaiian beads, decor even worn by Manziel’s family. Sure, the trophy is heading to College Station. But in a room filled with some of the biggest legends of the college game, Te’o's stamp was all over. It’s hard to find a truer sign of respect than that.
In the end, Te’o was likely done in by the voters who kept him off their ballot completely. Te’o's 321 first place votes was the second-most for a Heisman runner-up ever. Whether those voters thought there were three better players than Te’o in college football or didn’t believe a middle linebacker is deserving of college football’s most prestigious trophy is largely a moot point by now.
Second place will never be confused with the winner of anything. But with Te’o leading the Irish to the national championship game, and Notre Dame’s heart and soul representing the school and college football with such dignity, it’s hard to call Manti Te’o anything but a winner.
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When Hunter Bivin gave a verbal commitment to Notre Dame, most fans thought the Irish were getting a prototype offensive tackle that had the chance to compete for the job of Zack Martin’s replacement. It turns out the Irish were getting much, much more, with the versatile Bivin being a veritable Swiss Army Knife for…
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With the freshman class on campus and the football team starting voluntary workouts and summer school, the team is now in the hands of strength coach Paul Longo and medical trainer Rob Hunt. That’s good news for an important recruiting class that will likely have a few early contributors come September. One athlete who doesn’t…
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Caught up in the commotion of DeShone Kizer’s commitment to the Irish was the news of how Kizer actually committed to Notre Dame. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound quarterback called to deliver the good news to Brian Kelly and the head coach wasn’t in South Bend, but actually in New England spending some time with Bill Belicheck…
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For those worried about the Irish defensive line after the surprising loss of Eddie Vanderdoes, it’s probably worth taking a look at who’s returning along the Irish front. Just about everybody. While the Irish lose senior captain Kapron Lewis-Moore to graduation, they return five of their top six players up front, including All-American caliber talent…
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After a lot of grumbling by Arizona State athletic director Steve Patterson, it appears that Notre Dame and Arizona State’s game in 2014 will go on after all. The Sun Devil’s athletic director took to the internet yesterday to announce that the Irish’s date in Tempe that looked to be in jeopardy is back on…
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Property of the Toledo Blade
Notre Dame received the commitment of Toledo quarterback DeShone Kizer Tuesday. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound quarterback had offers from Alabama, Arkansas, LSU, Penn State, and Tennessee among others. “I am privileged to say that I will be continuing my Fighting Irish tradition by playing football at the University of Notre Dame!” Kizer Tweeted this afternoon. Kizer’s…
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We’re a week away from freshman reporting to summer school — finalizing the assembly of the 2013 Fighting Irish football team on campus and beginning offseason workouts. Across the country, guys like Greg Bryant and Jaylon Smith say goodbye to home and high school and prepare to go from All-Everything recruits to freshmen football players,…
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As someone that had the opportunity to participate in this coaching staff’s very first Fantasy Camp, I can tell you that it’s an incredible experience. The Notre Dame staff roles out the red carpet for both campers and returning alums, making the short week one of the best experiences you could ever hope for if…
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Editors Note: While there’s no doubt that Rees will be the starting quarterback against Temple, the headline of this story has been tweaked to be a little less definitive, as talking at a banquet hardly construes an official announcement. UPDATE: It appears that Kelly did more than hint at Rees being the frontrunner for the…
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In one of the great examples of June being the Sahara for college football fans, Notre Dame recruit Elijah Hood, one of the best running backs in the country, got caught up in social media circus yesterday, courtesy of a Vine video he made. Hood, one of the most active social media users in the…
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Eddie Vanderdoes won’t be attending Notre Dame. Both Brian Kelly and the talented defensive lineman agree on that. How the situation ever got to this point, well that’s a story most people are still trying to figure out. Today, after a few weeks of murky details slowly coming to the surface, Vanderdoes, Notre Dame and…
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Summer break is over for the Irish football team. Returning members of the football team came back to South Bend yesterday to begin preparation for the 2013 season. While all workouts are technically voluntary, every player (freshmen will show up in two weeks) is expected to begin work with strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo…
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Everett Golson intends to return to Notre Dame after his suspension. That’s the good news. But for Brian Kelly and his coaching staff, there’s no planning for good intentions, and right now the quarterback depth chart looks vastly different without Golson at the top of it. The once robust quarterback group had a very tough…
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Since the revelation of Everett Golson‘s suspension from Notre Dame, not much had been clear about the future of the Irish’s starting quarterback. But after listening to head coach Brian Kelly, one thing now is: The door is wide open for Golson to return in the spring. Kelly spoke briefly with the media Tuesday afternoon,…
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AP
In the span of one holiday weekend, the trajectory of Notre Dame’s football program has been irrevocably changed. That’s not hyperbole. Coming off a twelve-win season and finally solving a quarterback conundrum that took three seasons to sort, Brian Kelly turned down an opportunity to jump to the NFL, presumably because he saw the bright…
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A day after news broke that Everett Golson was no longer enrolled at Notre Dame, the quarterback confirmed and clarified the circumstances surrounding his shocking departure. With the university bound to silence due to privacy laws, Golson himself acknowledged an academic situation that let to a suspension for the fall semester, ending his football season…
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Starting quarterback Everett Golson is no longer enrolled at Notre Dame. The bombshell was confirmed last Saturday night by university spokesman Dennis Brown to multiple outlets, with local NBC affiliate WNDU the first to report the news. Two sources tells Inside the Irish that an academic violation is the root of the problem, and may…
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Memorial Weekend notes: Vanderdoes, Weis, recruiting down south
May 24, 2013, 6:59 PM EDT
With the unofficial kickoff to summer upon us, we’re inside 100 days until football is back. That may seem like quite a long time, but we’ve got plenty of ground to cover in the next few months as we get a better look at what the 2013 Fighting Irish will be. Before everybody disappears for…
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Jake Golic‘s football career isn’t over. The reserve tight end will spend his final season of eligibility at Cincinnati, exercising his ability to transfer and play immediately after graduating from Notre Dame last week with a degree in graphic design. Golic appeared in just five games during his four seasons in South Bend, battling injuries…
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With Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood gone from the Irish backfield, the Notre Dame running game is missing its two leading men from 2012. Yet there isn’t a huge worry about what comes next. Even with Riddick’s surprising, hard charging senior season and Wood’s three seasons in (and around) the starting lineup, there’s every belief…
