After Manti Te’o’s first-day draft ordeal, you couldn’t have made up a better ending. And the best thing about it was that it was lightning-bolt real.

The San Diego Chargers brought a pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming conclusion to Te’o’s draft vigil, making him a second-round pick with the 38th overall selection on Friday.

When his phone rang, "I saw it was a California phone number, I answered and I was just excited," Te’o told Chargers.com. "I was just so excited I can’t even remember (who called)."

All things considered — and we’re talking location, opportunity, history, etc. — it would have been hard to conjure up a better landing place for the Notre Dame All-America linebacker after Thursday’s deflating first round and the last four tumultuous months surrounding the girlfriend hoax. After everything that seemingly could go wrong did, good fortune — and the Chargers — smiled upon a rejuvenated Te’o on Friday.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell surmised as much on the stage at Radio City Musical Hall in New York, where he told honorary spokesman Jim Hill, a former Chargers defensive back, "You’re going to get a big cheer when you announce this pick."

Especially on the North Shore, where the Te’o family had rented a spacious beach house to allow family and friends to follow the draft.

After sitting atop Mel Kiper’s "Best Available" list for what surely seemed like ages and being bypassed three times by Minnesota, Te’o found a welcoming embrace from the Chargers, who worked a trade with Arizona to move up seven spots to get him.

General manager Tom Telesco, who termed Te’o "the most instinctive and productive linebacker in the draft," said, "We thought in order to get him we had to be aggressive and go up and do it."

The best thing about it for Te’o is the Chargers run a 3-4 defense that leave him alone in the middle, and they plan to have him complement the stellar Donald Butler.

Te’o finds himself starting over with a team that is doing the same, including the general manager and head coach.

"He just wants the opportunity, (and) he’s got a great opportunity with the San Diego Chargers as a new guy," coach Mike McCoy told the NFL Network. " I think everybody starts with a clean slate."

After slipping into the second round and possibly seeing as much as a $1.6 million drop over his initial contract as a result, San Diego might offer endorsement opportunities Te’o would not find elsewhere.

Then, there is the considerable legacy of the late Junior Seau, a 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker who was also of Samoan heritage, that speaks to the heart. The much-beloved Seau, who spent 13 of his 20 NFL seasons with the Chargers and died tragically last year, remains the iconic face of the San Diego franchise.

And, for Te’o, an inspiration.

Seau was a major reason Te’o was a USC fan growing up and why, friends say, he very nearly became a Trojan coming out of Punahou School.

"I want to make him proud," Te’o told Chargers.com. "He was a dominant linebacker and that’s what I want to be. This team has a history of great linebackers and I want to be part of that tradition."

On the day the NFL finally called, Te’o was ready to go chase his dreams again.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.