Manti Te’o reclined in a beach chair in the middle of a large makeshift photo studio in Waipahu where sand was spread around his feet and props were arranged to give the appearance of a man on his own island.

"I feel like a castaway," Te’o joked as a crew hovered over him during Friday’s commercial shoot for Vita Coco coconut water, one of his sponsors.

The cameras and lights in the otherwise darkened room were focused on Te’o and so, too, was all the attention. An attendant wiped the sweat from his brow as another asked, "Can I get you anything? Something to drink?"

Te’o’s choice of local music played over the speaker system and a buffet table of island favorites was arranged by the wall. Another woman was assigned to make funny faces and goofy gestures in case Te’o’s easy-going smile waned toward the end of the four-hour shoot.

With his rookie season in the NFL behind him, the trappings of success are all around the former Punahou School and Notre Dame All-America linebacker, but don’t assume he considers himself having arrived. "That would be a mistake," the 23-year old Te’o said. "I don’t feel like I have arrived at all. I didn’t feel that way at Notre Dame, I don’t feel that way now."

With the July 23 opening of the San Diego Chargers’ training camp looming, Te’o said, "I feel like I have made some strides and I want to continue to make more. That’s what I’m looking for. That’s what will give me confidence."

Te’o’s much-anticipated 2013 rookie season started four games late, Sept. 29, due to a foot injury suffered nine snaps into the Aug. 8 exhibition opener. It wasn’t until after postseason surgery in January — and the X-ray that Te’o posted on his Instagram account — that the Chargers, who had classified the injury a "sprain," confirmed he had started 15 games with a stress fracture of his right foot.

Along with acclimating to the speed of the pro game, he found himself playing catch-up with the mental part. "Towards the end of the season I started feeling more comfortable," Te’o said. "I was getting to the point where I didn’t have to think about so much what I was doing and could concentrate on what the offense was doing to attack us and how to stop it."

He had his most productive game in the playoff-clinching regular-season finale against Kansas City with 10 tackles. He finished ninth among the Chargers in that category.

"I want to build upon that," Te’o said. "It is not one thing, it is everything. I want to improve upon both my strengths and my weaknesses."

To that end he is 4 pounds lighter (240) and stronger, seeking to add explosiveness and strength. "In the NFL you are playing against the best of the best every week and you have to constantly improve," Te’o said.

Growing up, Te’o remembers being glued to athletes’ commercials, "especially the Nike and Gatorade ones. I always had the dream that it would be at some point in time. You see them and you want to be a part of it."

Still, when he was told that the result of Friday’s photo shoot would be the placing of near life-size cardboard cutouts of him in stores in late August to coincide with the start of the season, Te’o said, "Wow, for real? I mean, really? That would be legit. It would be a little weird to see myself."

Then, he paused and said, "I’ll probably want to take a picture (and) my friends will probably clown on me."

Meanwhile, his feet remained tethered to the ground even as an attendant brushed sand from them.

"Every day I wake up I thank the Heavenly Father for giving me this opportunity," Te’o said. "I’m thankful for being able to live this dream. Every time I’m in a stadium and they sing the national anthem before the game, I’m grateful and don’t take anything for granted."

——

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