When 6-foot-2, 244-pound linebacker Manti Te'o asked one of the dining hall cooks at the University of Notre Dame for three eggs over easy, nobody batted an eye.

But when he proceeded to grab a couple of hamburger patties to slide under them, piled everything on a bed of rice and poured brown gravy over the whole concoction, they had to wonder.

"They asked me what it was called," Te'o recalled. "And, I told them, 'a loco moco.' We eat it in Hawai'i.' It is a taste of home for us."

Such meals are much-savored reminders of home for Te'o, whose 4,327-mile journey from Lai'e to a starting job with the Fighting Irish as a freshman has not been without bouts of homesickness.

Te'o, the most hotly contested high school football prospect to come out of Hawai'i, will help lead the Irish defense against Southern California Saturday in South Bend, Ind.

"When I ran out of that tunnel (at Notre Dame Stadium) for the first time, I was just in awe thinking, 'I'm part of Notre Dame football,' " Te'o said. "'I'm part of the Notre Dame community and I'm representing a tradition.' That's something I don't think that I can ever get over. It has just been a blessing to be here."

But the first weeks following his June arrival on campus weren't easy. "In the beginning I was homesick a lot," Te'o said. "I really missed my family the most. I talked to them every day."

He said, "I miss being home; just knowing you are in Hawai'i. I miss my high school (Punahou) a lot. It (homesickness) comes and goes. I'd say the first three weeks, a month, I was really homesick. I wasn't used to being away from home and my family. It was something I just had to learn to deal with. That was the hardest thing for me to overcome.

"But I guess I just learned to accept that I'm here and they are at home and one day I'll see them (there) again. I've been thankful that they have been able to come to two games so far."

In the interim, "the guys here — the players and the coaches — took me in and reassured me," Te'o said. "The people here really support you. It kind of reminds me of my high school a little bit, everybody wants you to succeed."

Having receiver Roby Toma, his Lai'e neighbor and former Buffanblu teammate, along was comforting. "He's been one of the biggest helps," Te'o said. "For me, being so far away from my family, he's been like my little brother. Whenever you have a guy who you grew up with ever since you were in kindergarten, who else would I feel more comfortable around here with?"

This time last year, Te'o said he wasn't sure which of the many colleges pursuing him he would end up attending. "(But) I made the decision I thought best for me and my family and a decision in tune with what I thought the Lord wanted me to do. So far, everything that has happened has been testament to the fact that I made the right decision."