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The Manti Te'oles: The Preview

Stephen Hwang provides a preview to Bolts from the Blue's upcoming series on San Diego Chargers Manti Te'o.

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

For the next couple of weeks, I will be doing a series of breakdowns of Manti Te’o. From his college years and to his rookie season, I will be breaking down the film of Te’o and see whether or not his future may be bright with the Super Chargers. The series will consists of four parts.

Part One: College Years, the 4-3, the 3-4, and scheme fit:

In part one I will be breaking down mostly his film from college and explain what made Manti such a highly touted prospect. I will be explaining his role in the 4-3 defense, the roles of the mike in the 4-3 defense, the role of the inside linebacker in the 3-4 defense, and the physical and mental differences between a 4-3 mike linebacker and a 3-4 mike linebacker. Then I will explain what adjustments Manti would have to make to fit more into the scheme.

Part Two: The Positives

In part two, I will be dissecting the positives of Manti’s game. I will be looking at his fundamentals, his play reads, his reaction to reads, and his learning curve within the system. I will go through his progression from the first few games as a rookie, to how he improved as the season progressed.

Part Three: The Negatives:

In part three, I will be pointing out what Manti had been doing wrong all season. From his transition from the mindset of a 4-3 linebacker to a 3-4 linebacker to his physical attributes, I will explain in detail the flaws in Te’o’s game.

Part Four: The Future

In the final chapter of the series, I will be discussing the future of Manti Te’o’s game and whether I see a bright spot in his career with the Chargers. I will see his progression through the season and explain if Manti will have the ability to fully transition into a successful 3-4 linebacker.

Since Manti Te’o is the obvious near future of the Chargers, many have been wondering if he’ll be in San Diego for a long part of his career. I hope this series will help lingering questions any of you had/have about Te’o.


If you would like a series of this sort on another player on the Chargers, please comment below which players you would like for me to breakdown. Since a series like this takes quite a long time to complete, I may not be able to get through all of them, but I will attempt to complete a series on the most popular selections.