Notre Dame football star's absence from century's best players list stands out

Earlier on Monday, ESPN’s Bill Connelly released a list of players he considers the best players of the 21st century so far. Oddly enough, there was one name, a Notre Dame football star, who was not on that list.

It’s true that the 21st century hasn’t been as kind as the late 20th century was to the Fighting Irish, but leaving off Manti Te’o seems like a weird oversight. It’s an even weirder oversight when you consider that Connelly doesn’t have a blindspot for Te’o.

Earlier this year, the ESPN analyst included the Notre Dame football star in his list of the best defenders of the 21st century. However, he was No. 28 on that list. Perhaps, somehow he didn’t believe that the linebacker made the cut of Top 25.

The flipside of that argument is that Te’o being ranked 28th of the best defenders of the 21st century is too low. Way too low. And Connelly even made the argument.

Notre Dame football player left off best players of the century list

“Te'o made a staggering 374 tackles from 2010-12, 28.5 behind the line of scrimmage. He picked off seven passes in 2012 as well, finishing second in the Heisman voting while leading the Fighting Irish to their first BCS Championship Game. He, too, was everywhere.”

So how does he get left off the list of best players of the 21st century? In Connelly’s defense, he admited paring it down to 25 was a chore. He even said that he probably did get some wrong. 

And he definitely did by leaving Manti Te’o off the list. Not only was Te’o the most decorated linebacker in Notre Dame football history, he is one of the most decorated linebackers in the history of college football. He finished his Irish career with the third most tackles in school history, and his seven interception in 2012 is still a school record for a linebacker.