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Manti Te'o named Notre Dame MVP

The Fighting Irish handed out their annual team awards Friday, and their Heisman Trophy finalist took home the team's MVP.

Jonathan Daniel

Senior linebacker Manti Te'o was recognized as Notre Dame's MVP at the team's annual awards ceremony Friday at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center in South Bend, reported JJ Stankevitz for CSN Chicago.

The recognition makes sense given that Te'o is one of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy, which will be awarded Saturday night in New York City. The competition consists of Texas A&M freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel, considered the early favorite to win college football's most prestigious individual award, and Kansas State senior quarterback Collin Klein.

Te'o led the Fighting Irish with 103 tackles and also intercepted seven passes, second-best in the nation and the most for a linebacker, in leading Notre Dame to its No. 1 ranking and a berth in the BCS championship game Jan. 7 against No. 2 Alabama. On Monday he won the Butkus Award, given to the nation's top linebacker, and is trying to become the first defense-only player to win the Heisman and Notre Dame's first winner since Tim Brown in 1987.

Here's a full list of the 19 awards handed out by Notre Dame: