Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/98978
On The Road Brian and Ottillia Te���o joined their son in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, Dec.��3, shortly before noon. They traveled together for six and a half days and had time for maybe two or three substantive conversations. The rest of the time all three were trying to steal hours of sleep and peace whenever their hectic schedule allowed. Te���o accepted the Bronko Nagurski Award for the nation���s best defensive player in Charlotte in a ceremony and celebration that stretched until midnight. The next morning he boarded a plane for his first of two trips to New York City. There he met NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and toured the league���s operations offices. He watched Alabama center Barrett Jones win the Campbell Award for academic and athletic achievement in another late ceremony. Te���o had enough time to change clothes and pack his belongings before heading to the airport for an overnight flight to Houston. In Houston, it was on to tour a hospital cancer ward and sign autographs and collect the Rotary Lombardi Award. And on and on it went for the Te���os that week. ���I wanted to say I was tired, but I couldn���t because he had it even worse,��� Brian Te���o said. ���Just total admiration for our son and how he was able to handle being pulled here and pulled there. It was just crazy being able to see him handle all of that in stride.��� One of the newly minted celebrity���s calmest days came in Orlando, Fla., on one of his most fruitful nights. Thursday, Dec. 6, brought the Home Depot College Football Awards Show and a trip to the Sunshine State. Notre Dame monopolized the better part of the ESPN-televised portion of the night. Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly, defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, senior tight end Tyler Eifert and program legend Ara Parseghian all won awards that night. Te���o won three. Two (the Maxwell and Walter Camp Awards) named him the best overall player in the game this season and the third, the Chuck Bednarik Trophy, reaffirmed his status as the country���s top defender. Te���o���s favorite part of the night was the few hours he had to himself with his parents without a down-to-the-minute itinerary to follow. On Friday it was back to the Big Apple again, where the Heisman hype machine reached full force with more interviews and tours of the city. That night he watched his team celebrate its in-house awards show and delivered his Most Valuable Player acceptance speech live from a room at NBC���s studio in Rockefeller Center. ���The one place I want to be right now is with all my brothers,��� he said. ���I wouldn���t be here without you guys and I love each and every one of you guys with all my heart. ���Being here with all these other athletes and getting to know these guys, they���re great players but there is one thing they don���t have: They don���t have a family like we have.��� Sharing His Roots While Te���o prepped for his Heisman ceremony along with Manziel and Kansas State���s Collin Klein, his parents spent the better part of their