NFL Network[/caption]Manti Te'o is officially a bust. He ran a 4.8 in his 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine today, as his time ranked 20th out of 26 linebackers who ran.
Clearly, this hoax has distracted him and thwarted his preparation and training regimen. I did not expect him to run an extremely fast time, but I thought, with him being 6-1 and 240 pounds, he would at least run in the 4.6-4.7 range. His time is average at best.
He lacks the explosive skills to be an elite linebacker at the NFL level. John Harbaugh even said his explosiveness was suspect and seemed to be very unimpressed. Te'o is undoubtedly is a disappointment on the field and off the field. His questionable character issues, which I wrote about in an earlier article, aren't the only questions regarding his draft stock.
I don't think Te'o is worthy of a first-round pick, he should go in the third round. His last collegiate game was an surprising debacle in the BCS National Championship game versus a pseudo-NFL team in Alabama. He literally got bowled over in that game. All I can remember was Te'o lying on his back while Eddie Lacy and company rolled right over him.
Te'o's fall from grace is of epic magnitude. Once regarded as a college hero and inspiration to us all, he's now a joke, an afterthought and a running punchline. Could Te'o recover from this dramatic downward spiral?
Only time will tell.
