The Heisman Trophy won't be awarded until Saturday, but Manti Te'o still made history Thursday.
Manti Te'o took home three more honors Thursday night, winning the Walter Camp National Player of the Year, Bednarik Award and Maxwell Award to bring his major awards total to six, breaking Charles Woodson's single-season record of five set in 1997. Woodson won the Bednarik, Nagurski, Thorpe, Walter Camp and Heisman Trophies that year, while Te'o won the Walter Camp, Bednarik, Maxwell, Nagurski, Butkus and Lombardi honors with the Heisman Trophy still to be announced.
Te'o became only the third defensive player to win the Walter Camp Award, joining Michigan's Charles Woodson and Pittsburgh's Hugh Green. Woodson won the Heisman Trophy in 1997, while Green finished second -- tied for the highest Heisman finish for a defensive player who didn't play offense or special teams in the 77-year history of the honor.
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Te'o is Notre Dame's fourth winner of the Walter Camp Award, joining Ken MacAfee (1977), Tim Brown (1987) and Rocket Ismail (1990). Only USC has had more players (6) win the Walter Camp, while Ohio State has also had four players receive the honor.
No Notre Dame player had won the Bednarik Award, given annually by the Maxwell Football Club since 1995 to the nation's top defensive player, until Te'o in 2012. A Notre Dame player has won the Maxwell Award six times, with Brady Quinn (2006) the most recent recipient. The last defensive player to win the Maxwell Award was Green in 1980.
Te'o's awards tour, which has taken him from Charlotte to New York to Houston to Orlando already, will come to an end Saturday night in Times Square. No defensive player who hasn't contributed on special teams or offense has ever won the Heisman Trophy, which Te'o is a finalist for.
While it may seem improbable for Te'o to win the Heisman Trophy -- Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel has been cast as the odds-on favorite for college football's top honor -- Te'o's truckload of awards this year is just as unprecedented as a pure defensive player winning the Heisman.