Most draft analysts only dropped him subtly in their post-Alabama game projections, if at all. ESPN?s Mel Kiper Jr. has Te?o as the No. 6 overall prospect on his big board after peaking at No. 2.
?He has a really high floor, and evaluators know it,? Kiper wrote.
Scouts Inc. has him as the No. 7 prospect in the draft. Wright of draftcountdown.com has him No. 2, though projects him lower in his mock draft because of positional value. Middle linebackers are not as valued as, say, outside linebackers at the NFL level.
?You see people on Twitter and other places overreacting,? Wright said, ?but the NFL people aren?t going to overreact to one game. Now, it wasn?t a great performance for him. It raises maybe some concerns, but the whole defense did not play well. And Manti was coming off the banquet circuit, traveling all over to all these award shows. So I don?t think it?s going to affect him that much.
?I?ve heard some people say he?s going to drop out of the first round. It?s absurd. He?s still going to be the first player chosen at his position. I think he?ll go in that 10-15 range when all is said and done.?
Te?o has signed with agent Tom Condon and will work out in Bradenton, Fla., at the IMG Academy for the NFL Scouting Combine in late February. ND?s Tyler Eifert, another Condon client, is also working out in Bradenton at IMG, as are a number of projected high-round draft picks.
Two ND players that the Alabama game did hurt from an NFL Draft standpoint are safety Zeke Motta, because of his play, and defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore, because of the ACL tear in his right knee.
Lewis-Moore was projected as a late-round pick but will likely become a priority free agent, because he?ll miss all of the pre-draft workouts and may not be 100 percent before the middle of summer.
?It?s a shame to see a guy get hurt like that in the last game of his career,? Wright said. ?But it could work out for him. I?d rather be a priority free agent than a seventh-round pick, because I can pick my situation. I can look at the depth charts and say, ?Well, there?s more of an opportunity here,? than be a team?s last pick and you go in there and you?re training camp fodder and you?re basically facing uphill battles.?
Motta, projected as high as a third-round pick a few weeks ago, had a career-high 16 tackles in the loss to the Crimson Tide, but the numbers are deceiving in this case.
?He had lot of missed tackles, bad angles,? Wright said. ?And I think he was exposed in coverage a little bit, so I think Zeke Motta hurt himself a little bit.?
A third chance for Crist?
Those close to Dayne Crist say the circumstances that dropped the former Notre Dame quarterback from No. 1 to 2 on the depth chart at Kansas this past season are more mental than physical, which is why there?s still a realistic chance he could end up in an NFL training camp this summer.
?He has some tools to work with,? Wright said. ?He?s a great kid. He?s got the size. He?s got the arm. He?s a pretty good athlete. I could very well see him as a guy that teams want to bring in as maybe a No. 3 quarterback, but more than likely a practice-squad type. Then you work with him for a year and see what you have, so I think Dayne Crist will be in camp, but won?t get drafted.?
Crist played in one college all-star game Friday night in Tucson, Ariz., and will play in a second one Saturday in Los Angeles.
He threw for 62 yards and a TD on 6-of-12 passing for the winning West team in the Casino Del Sol All-Star game. On Saturday, he?ll suit up for the West team in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
After suffering a season-ending knee injury in 2009 as a Notre Dame reserve, Crist started the first nine games of the 2010 season before suffering another season-ending knee injury.
He won the starting job in fall camp of 2011, but promptly lost the job to Tommy Rees at halftime of the season opener with South Florida. Crist transferred to Kansas at the end of the 2011 season. He was 103-of-216 for 1,313 yards and four TDs with nine interceptions in 10 games for the Jayhawks (1-11), seven of them as a starter.
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