ORLANDO, Fla. — There was a splash, then peals of laughter and explosions of shouting. And there was Manti Te’o, looking a bit panicked, cowering in a portable ice bath after a Notre Dame practice while teammates walloped him with waves of skin-frosting water.
Though potential hypothermia isn’t ideal, presumably these episodes are what the junior linebacker is returning for in 2012. The next day, at a Champs Sports Bowl community event, a wide-smiling Te’o slung an arm around Irish coach Brian Kelly and cracked a joke for some autograph seekers.
The Champs Sports Bowl on Thursday ends an occasionally choppy Year 2 for Kelly, but he has a resonating victory already: Whatever divisiveness afflicted his team this fall, it wasn’t enough to chase his best player into the cozy embrace of NFL millions. Kelly came out all right on the other side, it appears, even if the getting there was jarring.
“We’ve had a lot of talent here, we have a lot of guys who left early,” Te’o said, discussing the impact his decision might have on the locker room. “I just hope not for only these guys but for people all around to see that there’s more to life than dollar bills, there’s more to life than just money signs.
“It’s education, it’s relationships with people, it’s honoring people, honoring where you come from. That’s what I hope to portray with this decision, and that’s basically why I made my decision because those things are important to me.”
He didn’t and, really, hasn’t mentioned his head coach. On the night of the decision, Te’o’s father didn’t mention Kelly once in a nearly 40-minute discussion. And the Irish coach ought to be fine with that because even though Kelly’s my-recruits-vs.-Charlie-Weis-recruits comments in October hurt Te’o, Kelly didn’t have to be the reason Te’o stayed.
He just had to not be the reason Te’o left.
And that can reverberate, that a player with every excuse to leave believes things can be palatable if he stays.
If sore feelings are gone by September (if not already) and Kelly again is viewed as the fearless leader, Kelly will be fine with that. If players want to play for each other and for the greater Notre Dame-ness of everything and that’s all, and that’s successful, Kelly surely will be fine with that, too.
“It would be nice for me to tell you Manti came back and that makes the football program feel great because that means he cares about (it) that much and that was all it was,” defensive end Ethan Johnson said. “But that’s not reality.
“He came back to get a degree. He came back for the great people here. … The fact we get him back, Notre Dame, for one more year? It’s awesome. I’m getting chills right now because it’s awesome. It means he thinks this place is worth coming back (to) for millions of dollars. And he trusts this place that much that he would put himself on the line.”
It sends a message, almost inadvertently, that helps Te’o’s coach immensely: What really matters is us.
“It lets us know he feels this brotherhood we have at Notre Dame is important enough that he doesn’t mind spending another year with us,” receiver TJ Jones said. “He wants to come back and leave a lasting impression.”
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When he first mused about Te’o’s return a couple of weeks ago, Kelly used the broad brushstrokes, too. He talked about Te’o underscoring “how special Notre Dame is,” how Te’o strengthened the notion of the degree and playing for the school in the locker room.
It was the expected, breathless spin that everyone puts on these decisions.
“A great internal dynamic with him coming back,” Kelly said.
It might not have been, so this certainly beats the alternative sentiment that crept into play this fall. For 2012, that’s a more potentially potent result than anything that happens Thursday.
Twitter @ChiTribHamilton