Chargers take Manti Te’o in 2nd round

Manti Te’o made it to the NFL a day later than he expected, motivated to play well because he was snubbed in the first round of the draft.

Unconcerned about a hoax involving a fake girlfriend and a flop in the national championship game that have dogged Te’o for four months, San Diego Chargers rookie general manager Tom Telesco moved up seven spots in the second round to draft the Notre Dame linebacker on Friday night.

But things happened and all it did was give me more motivation to get better,” Te’o said in a conference call with reporters.

Te’o had spent Thursday with family members in Hawaii, watching the first round of the draft and waiting for a phone call that never came.

Te’o visited the Chargers before the draft, giving Telesco and rookie head coach Mike McCoy the chance to ask him about the issues.

Telesco said the Chargers had Te’o rated as a first-rounder.

Before being hired by the Chargers, Telesco was in the Indianapolis Colts’ front office and had seen Te’o play several times.

Te’o said it inspired him to play his best football all season, and it was so compelling that it helped turn Te’o into a Heisman Trophy contender as he was leading the Fighting Irish to an undefeated regular season and into the national championship game.

26, Te’o notified Notre Dame officials that he had received a call from his supposedly dead girlfriend’s phone three weeks earlier.

Te’o struggled in Notre Dame’s blowout loss in the national championship game to Alabama and its offense full of future NFL draft picks.