Manti Te'o is covering more ground than ever before

• Monday in Charlotte, Tuesday in New York, Wednesday in Houston, Thursday in Orlando and on and on
• Te'o, a Notre Dame senior linebacker, won five individual awards in a four-day period
• Te'o is eager to return to South Bend to re-join his teammates and prepare for the BCS championship

CHARLOTTE – The guy had already gotten signatures on two football helmets and posed for a photograph, but he wanted more. Stepping into the elevator, he began pulling more items from his bag. The plan was blocked, though, by Notre Dame assistant football coach Mike Elston.

"You've had enough," Elston said. "We're done."

The autograph collector stepped back. The doors closed. And as the elevator began its ascent to the 13th floor of the Westin Hotel, Manti Te'o sighed. Finally, a very long day was over.

"I'm exhausted," he said. "I'm going right to sleep."

The next day, he would do it all over again.

College football's postseason circuit is a fun but exhausting swirl of awards, adulation and yeah, autographs – but also late nights, early mornings, long flights and countless calories.

"It's a joy," said Te'o, not very convincingly. "It's just part of the ride."

This was late Monday night, which means it was the Bronko Nagurski Award in Charlotte, N.C. Which means Te'o had just begun a string of very long days in a very long journey.

Here's what it means to be the best player for the nation's No. 1 team:

Five awards presentations in five cities in seven days. Starting in South Bend, Ind., the itinerary for Notre Dame's senior linebacker was Charlotte to New York to Houston to Orlando to New York to Los Angeles – and maybe back to New York.

Te'o described himself as "grateful". He was glad to win the Nagurski Award as the nation's best defensive player, and for so many honors, it was hard to keep track.

"They basically just tell me where to go," he said.

On Monday, while in Charlotte, Te'o was informed he had won the Butkus Award (best linebacker). He learned he was a Heisman finalist that night while signing autographs in a pre-banquet event. "Oh man, thank you!" he said. "I can't wait to get to New York!"

On Tuesday, Te'o made his first of two trips to New York this week, to be honored as a scholar-athlete by the National Football Foundation (and took a meeting with Roger Goodell at the NFL commissioner's office).

On Wednesday in Houston, he won the Lombardi (best lineman or linebacker). On Thursday he won the Walter Camp (best player). Later Thursday, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., he joined college football's glitterati for ESPN's broadcast of the Home Depot College Football Awards – where he added the Maxwell (player of the year) and Bednarik (best defensive player) awards.

After that, well, who wouldn't enjoy a weekend return to New York for the Heisman? But Te'o already was beginning to understand why they say Heisman winners never play well in bowl games. The awards circuit exacts a toll.

His week began at 7 a.m. Monday, when a Notre Dame official picked him up at his house near the Notre Dame campus. Before leaving for Charlotte, along with coach Brian Kelly and Elston on a private jet, they had to backtrack. In his haste, Te'o had forgotten his wallet.

The travel itinerary included 8,560 air miles – unless he wins the Heisman. In that case, plans are uncertain, but he'd most likely fly Sunday to Los Angeles for just long enough to attend the banquet for the Lott Trophy (best defensive impact player), then grab a red-eye flight back to New York for the continuing duties of a Heisman winner.

If that happens, the final total would be just shy of 10,000 miles. And whatever happens, there's no good way to calculate the jet lag, or the weight of the trophies. Or perhaps the potential extra pounds from all of those banquets. Although he was trying "to be disciplined," he said, choosing fish and salads and forgoing dessert, he also was missing out on a regular workout routine.

Te'o said he planned to perform plyometric routines in hotel rooms and to work out on treadmills and stationary bicycles in the hotels' gyms. He'd worked ahead on his schoolwork – he has only two classes, and though he could graduate this month, he'll instead do so next May – but was up until 2 a.m. Monday morning finishing an assignment for a graphic design class. He brought along his iPad, with plans to spend free time researching a final project.

There's also the little matter of football practice. Though the Irish had most of the week off, they're scheduled to practice twice this weekend, without Te'o. He isn't happy about missing those.

"I miss my team, I miss my teammates," he said. "But you've got to enjoy yourself while it's happening, just go with the flow."

Sure, he was tired. It has been a magical season for Notre Dame – the Irish are unbeaten, headed for a BCS championship date with No. 2 Alabama – but it has been a long, draining journey. Perhaps even more than Kelly, Te'o has been the symbol of the program's renaissance.He's done it despite losing his grandmother and his girlfriend, who both died in September.

"He's burned out," Kelly said.

It's why Kelly met with Te'o last week, before player and coach climbed aboard the ride. Kelly told Te'o to treat the process like part of his football duties, and likened it to the grind of preseason two-a-day practices.

"We've got one week we have to commit ourselves to doing this," Kelly said he told Te'o. "We have to respect this process. These are national awards. You're deserving of them, and you and I are gonna do it together."

It helped that Te'o was joined for the entire week by his parents. Brian and Ottilia Te'o traveled from Hawaii to meet him in Charlotte, then planned to zig-zag with him across the continent, presumably racking up even more frequent-flier miles than their son. During his speech after winning the Nagurski, Te'o said, "It's because of my parents. I'm here today before you because of all the sacrifices they made while I was young."

From their table a few feet away, Brian Te'o captured the event, shooting video with an iPad. Afterward, they wore permanent smiles as one after another, sponsors posed for pictures with their son, or collected autographs, or just shook his hand.

That was the most difficult part, according to Te'o. He's used to the attention, and handles it well, smiling and chatting easily with strangers. Serious autograph collectors, though – like the guy who tried to force his way into the elevator – are a different matter.

"As long as they keep the vultures off of me," said Te'o a few minutes later, "I'll be fine."

Each day on the circuit follows a fairly similar pattern: Arrival. Participation in a community-service event (in Charlotte, Te'o took part, along with the other four finalists, in a question-and-answer forum with area high-schoolers; in Houston, they visited a children's hospital). Program rehearsal. Autograph session. Banquet. More autographs. Elevator to the room.

Sleep, shower, fly, repeat.

"It's a great experience," he said. "Obviously, there are some things that come with it, but overall I'm grateful to be here."

Then he said it again: "I'm exhausted." And if this was the first day, what would his condition be like by the time the weekend rolled around?

"Ask me on Saturday," Te'o said – and then he headed for bed.