Manti Te'o, Geno Smith passed over - ESPN

Updated: April 26, 2013, 12:48 AM ET

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NEW YORK -- Manti Te'o and Geno Smith must wait at least one more day to find out their futures.

Te'o, the Notre Dame linebacker, was not taken in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday. And so fans -- and even people who don't normally care about football -- will buzz for another 24 hours about the fake girlfriend hoax and its repercussions on his football career.

But what likely dropped Te'o to the second round had little to do with the tabloid-ready story of the woman who supposedly died during the season, only for the Heisman Trophy runner-up to acknowledge in January that he had been a victim of a hoax. Before those revelations, Te'o struggled in the national championship game against Alabama and its offense full of future NFL draft picks -- leaving clubs to wonder how he would fare against similar talent in the pros.

Then he ran a 4.82-second 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine, considered slow for a linebacker. He did better at Notre Dame's pro day, but NFL teams already had plenty of football reasons to doubt his worthiness as a first-round pick.

The regular-season dominance by the 6-foot-1, 240-pound All-American now seems so long ago. He led one of the top defenses in the country for an undefeated team. His seven interceptions were more than any other linebacker in 2012, and he finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.

Te'o was considered a late first-round or early second-round pick heading into the draft, which he did not attend.

Smith, the star quarterback at West Virginia, did attend the draft, but he never heard his name called. Smith declined an interview to ESPN and said he would return home and would not attend the draft's second and third rounds, which take place Friday.

Smith told ESPN's Suzy Kolber that he wasn't surprised not to be taken in the first round and that he would "play with a chip on his shoulder, even bigger than the one he had before."

Smith was considered the No. 1 quarterback in the draft by some after throwing for 4,205 yards and 42 touchdowns this past season.

But EJ Manuel of Florida State -- the only quarterback taken in the first round -- went before him to the Buffalo Bills.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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