For now, Te'o's mission is Irish football

Manti Te'o was among more than 20 people in the room when Chris Badger, a freshman Notre Dame teammate and fellow Mormon, recently received a mission call that will send him to Ecuador for the next two years.

As for Te'o, the Irish's stud sophomore linebacker and defensive linchpin? It appears for him, it's mission improbable.

Barring what is basically an actual act of God, Te'o expects to finish his career at Notre Dame without a traditional Mormon mission interrupting along the way.

"That's the plan so far," Te'o told the Tribune recently. "The plan is I'll just play out (my career), just do football. But I don't know what'll happen."

It's not a terribly surprising conclusion for a player who will anchor the Irish defense when preseason practice begins Saturday, especially with an NFL future looming. But in announcing Te'o's decision not to take a mission after his freshman season, Notre Dame said it was delayed "for at least one year and possibly until later in his life."