Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly told reporters after Thursday's practice that arrangements have been made for linebacker Manti Te'o to return home to Hawaii during the bye week.
Te'o's grandmother and girlfriend died in the days leading up to last weekend's 20-3 victory at Michigan State, and the senior is going to play Saturday night when the No. 11 Irish (3-0) play host to No. 18 Michigan (2-1).
"There's a lot going on," Kelly said. "He hasn't been available to the media this week, and it's just to give him a break. It's been a lot. He'll be ready on Saturday. I'd like to give him a break in the sense and just focus on school and practice. We've got his arrangements set for him to go home. So we've worked on a lot of that this week."
Te'o had a team-high 12 tackles in the win over the Spartans, earning him the Independent defensive player of the week and Lott IMPACT player of the week honors.
On Thursday, Te'o was also named one of the 30 college football players up for the Senior CLASS Award, which FBS players who excel in their work in the community, classroom, character and competition.
"He knows the names of the walk-ons. He knows all those guys. Doesn't call them, hey 32 or 57. He knows each one of those guys," Kelly said of Te'o earning more recognition. "I've been doing this a long time. I'm not saying all the great players don't know the names of other players. But he takes special attention to know the names of guys that don't play prominent roles. That's pretty unique."
Kelly said he was impressed by the movement around South Bend for fans to wear leis in Te'o's honor for Saturday's game.
"The students are rallying behind one of their student-athletes," Kelly said. "That's uniquely Notre Dame. When I heard about it, my foundation was going to do the Brian Kelly popsicle faces made famous by Digger Phelps. We shut that off right way. You won't see any of those because we want to focus on the leis for Manti."
Kelly also provided injury updates Thursday.
He said defensive ends Sheldon Day (knee) and Kapron Lewis-Moore (calf) will be fine for Saturday's game. Receiver DaVaris Daniels, who was limited last week with a sprained ankle, has improved, and Kelly expects Daniels to play against Michigan.
