Honestly, Te'o is about on par with all the other great ILBs to come out of college the last 4-5 years. His interceptions are the only real differentiation between McClain's '09 season and Te'o's '12 season. McClain had more sacks and TFLs than Te'o in that season though. In a resurgent year for Notre Dame, the media needed some face to attach to their success and he was really the only one that stood out. This is no offense to his ability, he's clearly going to be the first ILB off the board this April in the draft.
I don't think Te'o is that much better than Spikes at Florida, Herzlich and Kuechly at Boston College, or McClain and Hightower at Alabama. None of those guys sniffed the kind of awards this guy was up for and won.