Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Prize Worthy Irish honor their own at ���The Echoes��� By Wes Morgan O ne month before taking on the No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide in the BCS National Championship Game, topranked Notre Dame gathered Dec. 7 to recognize the individual achievements that made a 12-0 regular season possible. The annual awards show, which was named ���The Echoes��� this year, featured 17 awards, highlights from the 2012 campaign, a senior video tribute and quite a few zingers from presenters such as Fighting Irish assistant coaches, head coach Brian Kelly and athletics director Jack Swarbrick. But there were plenty of serious and touching moments, like when 14-year-old Sam Grewe, a diehard Notre Dame fan battling cancer who has served as the squad���s inspiration all season, walked out on stage. ���He taught us the value of life,��� Irish director of player development and engagement Ernest Jones said. Grewe was one of many inspirational forces behind Notre Dame���s march to Miami. As the season unfolded, Notre Dame received contributions from the usual suspects, new faces and players that clocked in behind the scenes. Senior linebacker Manti Te���o, who went on to win more national awards (seven) in one season than any other player in the history of the game, was named the team���s Most Valuable Player. Te���o was selected in a vote by members of the squad, and accepted the honor via satellite from New York, where he was named Heisman Trophy runner-up the following night. ���He could have gone to the NFL, just like Tyler [Eifert], [but] wanted to come back for his senior season and see Notre Dame football reach the heights that it has this year,��� Kelly said of Te���o. ���If you ask him about any of those national awards, as it relates to either being a great team or win individual awards, what would you take? There���s no question that Manti Te���o would take the team first. He���s always been about his teammates. ���I���ve gotten the opportunity to be with him over the past week, and at every stop he respects and honors the traditions of each one of these national awards, but all he asks me about every day is about his teammates. He so much wanted to be here tonight; he so much wanted to be part