BYU football: Cougars to face Notre Dame's LDS Heisman candidate Manti Te'o

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It's not often that BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall finds himself embroiled in a recruiting battle with Notre Dame.

But that was the case four years ago, when the Cougars were vying for the services of highly touted prep linebacker Manti Te'o.

Te'o, who is a member of LDS Church from Laie, Hawaii, strongly considered BYU — along with USC and Stanford — before ultimately choosing to play for the Fighting Irish.

"We wanted Manti, and we thought he was an excellent player," Mendenhall recalled this week. "There was a heavy recruiting race. He had an official visit and saw everything that we had to offer, and didn't really want BYU. Certainly our evaluation of him as a player was right — he's very good."

Very good, indeed.

The 6-foot-2, 255-pound senior middle linebacker is a consensus preseason All-American and could receive some Heisman Trophy consideration, which, of course, is unusual for someone playing on the defensive side of the ball.

The Cougars will get a closer look at Te'o Saturday (1:30 p.m., MT, NBC) when they visit No. 5 Notre Dame.

Though he is LDS and knows several BYU players, Te'o is downplaying this matchup.

"It's just game seven (of the season)," he said. "When you start to do things differently than you've done in the past, then bad things start to happen. I've been there before. I've made the mistake of being overly excited for a game and it hurt me. So unfortunately for me, I've been there, done that. That's a mistake that won't happen again."

Te'o is tenaciously focused on the upcoming opponent each week, and not much else.

"My eyes are trained for BYU," he said. "My eyes are used to seeing BYU play. My eyes are used to seeing what BYU runs in certain formations."

Te'o anchors a defense that ranks No. 2 in the nation in scoring defense, No. 11 in total defense, and No. 14 in passing defense. The Irish have not allowed a touchdown in four games, and have yet to allow a rushing touchdown this season.

BYU tight end Kaneakua Friel played against Te'o in high school.

"He's a great player," Friel said. "He runs to the ball, and he's physical and we have to prepare for that. One thing I always loved about him is that he always pursued to the ball. He's a very passionate player."