Rick Spielman had dinner with Manti Te’o night before Pro Day workout

Mar 26, 2013; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish former players Manti Te

All signs point to the Minnesota Vikings wanting a real relationship with Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o.

Too soon?

Sorry.

General manager Rick Spielman had dinner with the Heisman Trophy finalist the night before his pro day workout last month in South Bend, Sports Illustrated‘s Peter King reported on Sunday.

The Vikings met with Te’o on at least two other occasions as well. The team had a formal interview with Te’o at the NFL scouting combine in February and reportedly invited him to Winter Park for the team’s Top 30 event in early April.

Last week, linebackers coach Mike Singletary mentioned Te’o among four middle linebackers that have “good quality,” insinuating the team may draft one of the four.

"“Fortunately, this a good year to draft one,” Singletary said last week. “The kid at Kansas State, Arthur Brown, the kid at Notre Dame (Te’o), the kid at LSU (Kevin Minter), Ogletree, there are a few guys that have good quality. It just depends on how it shakes out.”"

Head coach Leslie Frazier has all but confirmed the team’s plans to draft a linebacker to insert in and contribute right away.

"“I’d like to believe there’s going to be one there for us,” Frazier said after an autograph convention last week. “There’s some good players at the linebacker spot, and we have a need to improve our depth and find a middle linebacker. Hopefully, we’ll get the right guy.”"