Eager to "wake up the echoes" of college football's most storied program and "shake down the thunder from the sky" in helping restore it to elite status, Punahou School senior Manti Te'o ended months of national speculation yesterday by signing a national letter of intent to play for the University of Notre Dame.

Te'o, widely regarded as the country's top linebacker prospect and the most heralded high school recruit from Hawai'i to date, made his decision public in front of a live national TV audience and a crowd of about 250 at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall by putting on a green-and-black Fighting Irish baseball cap in a 7 a.m. Signing Day ceremony.

After fielding offers from an original list of 30 top programs, he ultimately chose Notre Dame over Southern California in an 11th-hour decision that surprised many in the college football world.

"I wanted to make a difference, and Notre Dame is on the way up," said Te'o, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound all-around athlete, honor student and Eagle Scout. "I want to help build a dynasty, instead of just joining one. That was a big pull for me."

In a heated recruiting tug-of-war that left fans and media in suspense, Te'o had narrowed his list of finalists from five to three two weeks ago by eliminating Stanford and Brigham Young — leaving Notre Dame, USC and UCLA as his choices. He took his fifth and final official recruiting visit last weekend to USC.

On Monday, Te'o called UCLA coaches to say he was leaning toward Notre Dame and USC. But his dad, Brian, brought letters of intent and baseball caps from all three universities to yesterday's ceremony just in case.

Tuesday night, however, Te'o spent much of his time "praying and thinking," weighing only Notre Dame and USC.

"It was a hard decision, because I could picture myself at both schools," Te'o said.

But Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said during a campus press conference yesterday it was a good sign when Te'o's father, Brian, called Fighting Irish assistant Brian Polian late Tuesday night to ask about scholarship rules relating to serving a church mission (which Te'o has said he plans to do after his freshman season).

"When somebody calls ... in the middle of the night to ask you a question like that," Weis said, "you know you have a chance."

Still, Te'o said he did not make a final decision until 5 a.m. yesterday.

"He told me, 'Dad, I'm going to Notre Dame,' " Brian said.

All along the one-hour drive from their home in La'ie to Blaisdell, Brian said he kept asking his son, "You sure? ... Are you sure? ..."

With his family waiting outside in the Blaisdell parking lot, Te'o remained in the car and was talking on a phone with USC head coach Pete Carroll and linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. at 6:15 a.m. He remained on the phone almost until the ceremony began at 6:45 with the introduction of about 50 other athletes in the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall's Pikake Room.

"He hated that he would be disappointing a lot of people (with his decision)," Brian Te'o said. "But I told him, you can only go to one school."

Te'o was called upon to address the crowd, and he thanked — among others — high school coaches "for endless hours of devotion," and parents and families for their support.

To the fellow signees, he said, "I wish you the best, and always remember where you are from."

As the recruits were instructed to sign their letters of intent, Te'o grabbed the green-and-black cap that was between the USC and UCLA hats on a table and put it on, as emcee Doris Sullivan said on a microphone, "It's Notre Dame!"

Weis and his staff — watching ESPN's live coverage from a campus conference room some 4,000 miles away in Indiana — then threw their hands up and exchanged enthusiastic high-fives.

"To have a prolific guy like that, I think it really comes back to besides the fact that I really, really like the kid and think that he's going to have an opportunity to help us ... there's so many positives," Weis said during the press conference. "It's going to regenerate; the team is fired up. I've gotten texts from a good portion of the team. I'm sure the student body will be fired up. It's already paid dividends in recruiting for 2010. There's going to be a ton of residual effects."

Te'o said Polian and the Notre Dame staff were consistent in weekly e-mails during the recruiting process, emphasizing the Fighting Irish's potential and attention to academics.

"It shows their dedication," Te'o said. "They're genuine and they cared about me as a person; they made me feel comfortable. Notre Dame has great tradition and you can get a great education. I felt at home."

Te'o also said he is excited about the challenge of helping the Fighting Irish return to the upper echelon of college football, after a few years of decline. It's a challenge that had some observers thinking he would pass on in favor of a traditional power like USC.

"I've always been one to blaze my own trail," Te'o said. "My dream is to be part of a program that's building itself back to greatness ... It's the right decision."