Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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disappointed when Te���o officially became a runner-up around 4 p.m. local time, but his message was received loud and clear, according to the reports Brian Te���o got the next day. Te���o came up a few hundred points short in the final vote tally. He received 321 first-place votes compared to Manziel���s 474. Overall, Te���o garnered 1,706 points, only 323 points away from Manziel and the most ever by a purely defensive player. By the time the final ballots were counted, Te���o���s focus had shifted to preparing for the national championship matchup with Alabama a month later. He was looking forward to finding some time to rest ��� ���He���s burnt out,��� Kelly said even before Te���o left on his weeklong tour of the country ��� and beginning to study the Crimson Tide offense. He didn���t have much of a chance to watch game film while on the road. He worked out when he could and had strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo put together a special program to make sure he stayed in shape while jumping from one banquet buffet to the next. He specifically asked Kelly to make sure there was a gym in the hotels where he stayed so he, as he put it, didn���t return to campus looking more like a defensive lineman than a linebacker. A return to what passes as normalcy these days for Te���o was clearly a weight off his shoulders on Saturday. ���I���m just relieved,��� he said that night. ���Now it���s time to start getting ready for Bama.��� The weary traveler had one more stop left on his agenda before he got back to campus ��� a stop that would bring him full circle from where his crazy yearlong trip began. Te���o landed in Newport Beach, Calif., Sunday afternoon a year to the day after he announced his plans to play his final season of college football at Notre Dame. The Irish captain lost last year���s Lott IMPACT Trophy to Boston College���s all-everything middle linebacker Luke Kuechly. He stole part of the spotlight while at the awards ceremony, though, by declaring his decision to put NFL dreams on hold. In a rare moment of private time with his parents, Te���o had a chance to look back at all that had transpired in the past 12 months and appreciate the poetic full circle conclusion to 2012. It���s been one heck of a victory lap. ��� The Manti Te���o Awards Tour Date Location Thursday, Nov. 29 South Bend, Ind. Monday, Dec. 3 Charlotte, N.C. Tuesday, Dec. 4 New York City Wednesday, Dec. 5 Houston Thursday, Dec. 6 Orlando, Fla. Friday, Dec. 7 New York City Saturday, Dec. 8 New York City Sunday, Dec. 9 Newport Beach, Calif. Award ARA Sportsmanship Award Butkus Award, Nagurski Award Campbell Award (Finalist) Rotary Lombardi Award Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award, Bednarik Award Notre Dame Team MVP Heisman Trophy (Finalist) Lott IMPACT Award