The long wait for Manti Te'o officially concluded around 7 p.m. Friday, with former San Diego Chargers cornerback Jim Hill announcing that the Chargers had taken the former Notre Dame linebacker with the 38th overall pick.
"It’s great motivation for me to go out there and just get better, and that’s what I intend to do," Te'o told Chargers.com of falling out of the first round.
But Te'o was hardly the only surprise among former Irish players this past weekend.
For one, Cierre Wood, who passed up a potential fifth year of college ball to jump to the NFL, went undrafted. The running back was one of six former Irish players to post on Twitter that he signed or received an invite from an NFL team, as the Oxnard, Calif., native said he was picked up by the Houston Texans.
Mike Golic Jr. said he is heading to Pittsburgh, Braxston Cave to Cleveland, Dayne Crist to Kansas City, John Goodman to Cincinnati and Jordan Cowart to Washington.
Goodman will be joining fellow Fort Wayne, Ind., native and college teammate Tyler Eifert with the Bengals.
As for the rest of the Notre Dame contingent, Jamoris Slaughter was the first Irish player to get drafted Saturday, going in the sixth round (175th overall) to the Browns. Theo Riddick and Kapron Lewis-Moore were the next former Irish players off the board, going back to back to Detroit and Baltimore at Nos. 199 and 200, respectively.
Zeke Motta was the final player of the group to get drafted, going 224th overall to Atlanta in the seventh round, giving Notre Dame six draftees overall.
