MAN-tie TAY-ow is coming:

The fact that ND had no problem with the mission, I believe, was a major part of his decision. The conversation went something like this in L.A.:

Te'o: Coach, I would like to take a mission at the end of my freshman year. Is that a problem?

Poodle: No, not a problem at all. I just think that young kids need to work hard and learn the system and staying focused on the big picture.

Te'o: Thanks. I hope that won't hurt my chances of holding onto the schollie.

Poodle: Well, that is another completely different case. Doing the mission will only hurt your chances later in life. You HAVE to stay four years here to be ready to go to the next level.

Te'o: My mission will bring me to the next level. There is nothing more important.

Poodle: Well Te'o. As I told Mark Sanchez just the other day. you will not be ready for a mission after just one year here. You have to be here four years and the next level will come. He didn't listen to me and left anyways. I will NOT let that happen again.

Te'o: Thanks coach, see you next year....

From Article: But Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said during a campus press conference yesterday it was a good sign when Te'o's father, Brian, called Fighting Irish assistant Brian Polian late Tuesday night to ask about scholarship rules relating to serving a church mission (which Te'o has said he plans to do after his freshman season).

"When somebody calls ... in the middle of the night to ask you a question like that," Weis said, "you know you have a chance."

STORY