The most highly recruited Hawai'i high school football player in recent memory appears headed to a Mainland college.

That probability crystallized yesterday when Punahou senior Manti Te'o — ranked by some as the No. 1 linebacker prospect in the nation and No. 5 overall — announced he has narrowed his list of choices to five schools: UCLA, Southern California, Brigham Young, Stanford and Notre Dame.

Te'o, listed at 6 feet 2 and 233 pounds, was scheduled to leave Honolulu at 8 o'clock last night for a recruiting visit to UCLA.

"It's my first (recruiting) trip, so I'm excited," Te'o told The Advertiser yesterday afternoon.

Te'o had received more than 30 scholarship offers, from some of the nation's most storied programs. He said he had wanted to narrow the list to five by early September, when NCAA rules allowed more frequent calls from college coaches.

"It started to get hectic, I would be getting calls from about five coaches a day," Te'o said. "It was kind of chaotic, because even the (internet) recruiting services were calling, too."

But Punahou went on a trip to Seattle that first week and had a big showdown against Saint Louis last week. The Buffanblu have a bye this weekend, so Te'o and his father, Brian, sat down Monday night and pared the final list to five. On Tuesday, Te'o began calling coaches from schools outside the top five to inform them of his decision.

"That was the hardest part of the process," Te'o said. "You never want to say no, but I had to respectfully decline their offers."

Te'o said it was "very hard" to eliminate Tennessee, Colorado and Utah from consideration, because he had built relationships with some of their coaches. Tennessee defensive line coach Steve Caldwell flew to Honolulu on Sept. 2 specifically to watch Te'o practice.

As for the University of Hawai'i, Te'o said he liked head coach Greg McMackin but ultimately UH was not among the finalists.

"I think Coach McMackin is a great coach, and they're in the building process right now," Te'o said. "It's only a matter of time before they get better ... but I felt (going away) is best for me."

Regarding the top five, UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow is a Punahou graduate and, like Te'o, is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

USC, college football's No. 1-ranked team, has been heavily recruiting Te'o — even offering him jersey No. 55, which was worn by former Trojan All-America linebacker Junior Seau.

BYU, ranked No. 11, is affiliated with Te'o's LDS church. His cousin Shiloah Te'o is a freshman defensive back for the Cougars and another cousin, Malosi Te'o, plans to enroll this winter. Manti Te'o attended BYU's camp this past summer.

As for Notre Dame, Te'o said in a radio interview yesterday afternoon that "you cannot match their tradition." He added that he has gotten to know Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh and co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Andy Buh well through phone conversations.

Read his blog on high schools sports at http://preptalk.honadvblogs.com