Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax

[CrazyCarl40]

T'eo won't be picked in the first round because he shat the bed in the BCS championship. NO one wants to invest a first round pick who only plays good against USC or Navy.

Tell me more about Gholston.

[bitonti]

Tell me more about Gholston.

William Gholston is better than Manti Te'o.

[bitonti]

Ed Werder‏@Edwerderespn

One NFL personnel scout on Manti Te'o scandal and draft impact: "If a team needs an LB, they can watch the tape and forgive him.''

just don't watch the Bama tape, right?

[Matt39]

If Te'o was a beast in the Bama game had like 20 tackles or whatever, this wouldn't hurt his stock. They'd say yes he's nuts or whatever but he dominates. the bottom line is how does he play. And Te'o played like crap in the biggest game of his life so far. That's what's gonna kill his stock, way more than this girlfriend thing. The league is willing to overlook alot for a stud. Te'o doesn't play a premium position and isn't studly enough to make people overlook this story.

Agreed. This story is pretty boring now, him and his family are just weirdo's/sociopaths(dont buy that he's gay)....fact is he was never that great of a player. If he played for Texas or somewhere else he'd be a mid round prospect. Dat Nguyen ring a bell.

[CrazyCarl40]

William Gholston is better than Manti Te'o.

No he isn't. Nice cop out though.

You're just dead wrong here and in April when he is drafted first round, you'll be eating crow. He can play and play well at the next level. I'm not saying he's going to be the next Ray Lewis or Junior Seau, but he certainly can be a top player at the position because of his skill set.

[Green DNA]

If it helps, I've been f#cking imaginary women for years.

Yeah, but those relationships are over about 2 seconds after you bust your nut.

[CrazyCarl40]

just don't watch the Bama tape, right?

So when you, a "draft guru" watch tape on a guy do you watch one game only?

It's a good thing no one based what they thought of Adrian Peterson on his last game in college. 25 carries, 82 yards 3.3 yards per carry against USC.

[bitonti]

So when you, a "draft guru" watch tape on a guy do you watch one game only?

All scouts look at the toughest opposition. Bama is the team most like an NFL team that Te'o faced. That's a big deal.

For whatever reason, he didn't show up in a huge game. That has murdered his stock. He lost millions even before this story came out.

as for being a first rounder, part of that gig is being trotted out in front of the media. How can any team do that with Te'o right now? He's an absolute liability in front of cameras. It will take a PR campaign of herculean proportions to fix his image to the point where he's first round worthy again. It's possible but it's a long road from where he is right now.

[CrazyCarl40]

All scouts look at the toughest opposition. Bama is the team most like an NFL team that Te'o faced. That's a big deal.

For whatever reason, he didn't show up in a huge game. That has murdered his stock. He lost millions even before this story came out.

as for being a first rounder, part of that gig is being trotted out in front of the media. How can any team do that with Te'o right now? He's an absolute liability in front of cameras. It will take a PR campaign of herculean proportions to fix his image to the point where he's first round worthy again. It's possible but it's a long road from where he is right now.

Te'o didn't play well against Alabama. No one on Notre Dame did. Did he underperform because of this story weighing on him? Possibly. Could just be he had a bad game. That happens.

I agree about the PR part, but we have 3 months for this nonsense to blow over before the draft and for him and his future team to get out in front of it. Talent is talent. And he's a first round talent.

[bitonti]

Te'o didn't play well against Alabama. No one on Notre Dame did. Did he underperform because of this story weighing on him? Possibly. Could just be he had a bad game. That happens.

There will be big games in Te'o's future, wherever he is drafted. Scouts want a guy who plays better in big games, not a guy who doesn't show up (for whatever reason). What if he has a bad game in the Super Bowl? It's a real concern.

Talent is talent. And he's a first round talent.

there is an old saying the second round is for first round talent with issues. There are many first round talent guys who don't go in the first round and inside linebackers often fall for no real reason other than the fact they are inside linebackers.

When a team drafts Manti T'eo they know he's not gonna get sacks, how does he justify the selection? He'd have to be like Patrick Willis. the alternative is Aaron Curry or Marvin Jones. You don't need to draft a guy in rd 1 to get 100 tackles a year. ILB is like RB it's devalued.

[CrazyCarl40]

Joe Schad‏@schadjoe

Live on @SportsCenter woman tells ESPNs Shelley Smith that man confessed to orchestrating Te'o hoax and that Te'o didn't know

Joe Schad‏@schadjoe

Two people told Shelley Smith on @sportscenter that man who allegedly duped Manti Te'o pulled exact scheme w same fake pics on family member

Joe Schad‏@schadjoe

Audio of woman who says she knows Te'o duper from church and he confessed to her that he and cousins "played game" on Te'o @SportsCenter

[Matt39]

Lol @ ppl still thinking Teo wasn't in on this.

F Notre Dame and F that weirdo scrub Teo

[CrazyCarl40]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8857057/friend-says-ronaiah-tuiasosopo-confessed-manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man who has been publicly identified as being behind the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax, called a church friend in early December crying and admitted to duping the Heisman finalist, the friend told Outside the Lines Thursday.

The friend, a woman in her mid-20s, agreed to be interviewed under the condition that she not be identified, saying she was fearful for her family's safety because of the overwhelming publicity the story has generated. In the interview, she did allow for her voice to be recorded.

She says Tuiasosopo gave her the tearful confession and account of how he played, what he said was at first a game, on the unsuspecting Te'o. And, she says, he told her that it wasn't the first time he had done it.

"He (Ronaiah) told me that Manti was not involved at all, he was a victim. ... The girlfriend was a lie, the accident was a lie, the leukemia was a lie," said the woman. "He was crying, he was literally crying, he's like 'I know, I know what I have to do.'

"It's not only Manti, but he was telling me that it's a lot of other people they had done this to."

Notre Dame issued a news release Wednesday after Deadspin.com reported it could find no record of Lennay Kekua, Te'o's supposed girlfriend, existing.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in a news conference Wednesday night that coaches were informed by Te'o and his parents on Dec. 26 that Te'o had been the victim of what appeared to be a hoax. Someone using a fictitious name "apparently ingratiated herself" with Te'o, the school said, then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had died of leukemia.

Swarbrick said that the relationship took place online and over the phone. Te'o had described staying on the phone with whom he thought was Kekua for hours each night over many months. Tuiasosopo's friend from church told ESPN that Tuiasosopo admitted to having his female cousin speak to Te'o over the phone.

OTL also interviewed two other people who said they have a cousin who had the same online hoax pulled on them by Tuiasosopo.

J.R. Vaosa, 28, of Torrance, Calif., and Celeste Tuioti-Mariner, 21, of Whittier, said that in 2008 their cousin began an online romance with a woman who portrayed herself as a model. Vaosa said the cousin showed Vaosa a picture on MySpace of a woman from a Victoria's Secret catalog that he said was Kekua. Vaosa said that the online Kekua would agree to meet his cousin at certain places. Vaosa said he went with the cousin to meet her.

"When Lennay said she was gonna be at this park one day, we'd go to the park and Ronaiah pops up and then we go to the gym in Orange County where the kids have volleyball tournaments, Ronaiah's there," Vaosa said.

Finally, the family convinced Vaosa's cousin that something wasn't right and he needed to cut things off not only with Kekua, but Tuiasosopo, whom they were convinced was the real Kekua, Tuioti-Mariner said.

"I just knew that my cousin would invite her to certain events and Lennay would always say she would go to those things, but she would never end up going and instead of her going we would see Ronaiah," Tuioti-Mariner said.

Then this fall, Vaosa and Tuioti-Mariner saw the story of Te'o's dying girlfriend.

"When I found out about the Samoan football player (and) his girlfriend, his Grandma died the same day, I was like, 'Whoa this is crazy,' I feel so bad for him, so I just looked him up," Vaosa said. "I found out his girlfriend's name was Lennay Kekua. And right when I read the name Lennay Kekua, I immediately thought of Ronaiah. Then I thought of my cousin -- that this has to be the same person."

The cousins say they were convinced Te'o was being victimized, but say they were uncertain of what to do. They say they began tweeting their suspicions. Many of their tweets were laced with sarcasm including claims that "they" were the real Lennay Kekua. After Deadspin.com broke the story on Te'o and Swarbrick held a news conference, Vaosa and Tuioti-Mariner found reporters at their door and say there were threats made to them and their families on Twitter.

Another person involved in the hoax has come forward as well. The woman whose photos were portrayed as Kekua was identified by Inside Edition as Diane O'Meara. Her lawyer told the program that her client is also a victim and that her photos were stolen and used to create the illusion of Te'o's girlfriend.

Deadspin.com reported in its original story that the woman whose images were used as Kekua's was actually a former high school classmate of Tuiasosopo and that he used a ruse to get her to send him at least one photo.

Meanwhile, the woman who says Tuiasosopo confessed to her says she has urged Tuiasosopo to take responsibility for his actions.

She said he called her Wednesday as the news of the hoax was breaking. She says he sounded calm but she worries about his guilt, to what he did to Te'o and what he did to his family name, one of the most prominent in all of Polynesian sports. She worries what he might do to himself.

"I (still) am worried for him (Ronaiah), not just him and his family but I know that you can't judge people like that and that's why I continue to just encourage (him) to come out and tell the truth," she said.

[Matt39]

LOL poor Manti. What a loser.

[bitonti]

if it is proven that he "didn't know" that doesn't make this go away.

it means he is dumb enough to get internet scammed, and have it ruin his skills, before the team's biggest game.

Next thing ya know, Bill Belichek is posing as a Nigerian prince in the playoffs

[Matt39]

All of these random Samoans coming out of the woodwork mean squat. Tui ad or Teo need to talk...or else everyone is going to assume deadspin was accurate.

[JetsFanInDenver]

I have not read this story. Its tl:dr.

But what i am wondering is how can a guy not know his gf is dead or not. Can someone tell me whats going on. Craigslist ad ?

[SayNoToDMC]

Unless there's a delusional ND zealot like Carl running a war room on draft day I don't see him going round 1. It's 24/7 media coverage now a days and this story is ****ed regardless of how he fits in to it.

[CrazyCarl40]

if it is proven that he "didn't know" that doesn't make this go away.

it means he is dumb enough to get internet scammed, and have it ruin his skills, before the team's biggest game.

Next thing ya know, Bill Belichek is posing as a Nigerian prince in the playoffs

You mean a guy from the sheltered island of Hawaii, who is deeply religious, known to be big on family, couldn't have been so trusting to the point of naivety? He's 21 years old. Let's cut the kid, because that's what he is, a break until the whole story comes out and he speaks in his own defense.

[CrazyCarl40]

Unless there's a delusional ND zealot like Carl running a war room on draft day I don't see him going round 1. It's 24/7 media coverage now a days and this story is ****ed regardless of how how he fits in to it.

Delusional? Really? So Kiper, Mcshay, Polian, etc etc etc are all delusional about his draft stock too? If you want to call me names go ahead, just makes you look ridiculous.

[SayNoToDMC]

You mean a guy from the sheltered island of Hawaii, who is deeply religious, known to be big on family, couldn't have been so trusting to the point of naivety? He's 21 years old. Let's cut the kid, because that's what he is, a break until the whole story comes out and he speaks in his own defense.

Sheltered Island of Hawaii? It's a U.S. state. It's not the island from Castaway, his only friend a beach ball named Wilson

[bitonti]

You mean a guy from the sheltered island of Hawaii, who is deeply religious, known to be big on family, couldn't have been so trusting to the point of naivety? He's 21 years old. Let's cut the kid, because that's what he is, a break until the whole story comes out and he speaks in his own defense.

honestly Carl i don't think the NFL teams care if he's scammable. the problem is how he reacted. He was ashamed, went into a shell and rolled over vs Bama. I know he's not as bad as he was that game. the problem was how he reacted.

You brought up Adrian Peterson. That dude ran a 4.3 40 the day after his brother died. There's gonna be adversity in life. The question is, how do you deal ? if teo allowed his shame to take away his game, that's the troubling part of the story.

Some other guys would probably get angry. that's what the league wants out of it's middle linebackers anyway.

[BroadwayJoe12]

Delusional? Really? So Kiper, Mcshay, Polian, etc etc etc are all delusional about his draft stock too? If you want to call me names go ahead, just makes you look ridiculous.

Most scouts have said all along that he is a low-end first round/early second rounder and all the talk of him going in the top 5 was mostly hype, either due to the story, Notre Dame or whatever the reason may be. ILBs are not drafted that high unless they are going to be a generational type player ala Ray Lewis, which Teo is not. He's a very solid player, but he's probably not as good as Mayo or even Kuechly, so it'd be very surprising if he's even in the top 15, regardless of this drama. He's still a heck of a player and will make some time quite happy..assuming this whole thing does totally eff with his mind.

I still find it hard to believe that at some point over the course of a year didn't find out the truth, but whatever, I don't particularly care. It'd be best for him and the program if the whole truth came out all at once instead of over a handful of months.

[KennyOB7]

he's either a devious liar, a closet case, or has the intellectual capacity of a mo

Some other guys would probably get angry. that's what the league wants out of it's middle linebackers anyway.

exactly someone takes a crap on your name, you gotta come out swinging. Instead this guy is cowering, he's hunkered down with a PR team trying to figure his next move. Even if he is completely innocent, he's dying a slow death here. He's coming across as a soft weirdo with zero killer instinct.

[Matt39]

he's either a devious liar, a closet case, or has the intellectual capacity of a mo

exactly someone takes a crap on your name, you gotta come out swinging. Instead this guy is cowering, he's hunkered down with a PR team trying to figure his next move. Even if he is completely innocent, he's dying a slow death here. He's coming across as a soft weirdo with zero killer instinct.

Pretty much. If he wasnt in on it he would have spoken immediately. Funny thing is he signed with CAA, they same team that conjured up this whole Jeremy Lin nonsense. The Teo family can bring out all the Samoans they want but Teo is clearly lying and was involved every step of the way. Couldnt happen to a better school.

[CrazyCarl40]

Pretty much. If he wasnt in on it he would have spoken immediately. Funny thing is he signed with CAA, they same team that conjured up this whole Jeremy Lin nonsense. The Teo family can bring out all the Samoans they want but Teo is clearly lying and was involved every step of the way. Couldnt happen to a better school.

Haters going to hate. Don't let facts get in the way of your argument.

[Matt39]

Haters going to hate. Don't let facts get in the way of your argument.

WHat facts?

The fact some Samoan we've never heard of came out to stick up for him?

You're bizarrely invested in Teo's well being. The kids a tool. Who cares.

I just find it funny because this kid was unfairly trumpeted by the media because he went to ND, who had lighting strike basically 4 times to have them go undefeated...when he isnt even that good of a player. The fall from grace is a great story....over something this absurd.

[Lil Bit Special]

Sheltered Island of Hawaii? It's a U.S. state. It's not the island from Castaway, his only friend a beach ball named Wilson

+1

[JustInFudge]

I'm not into social media, dont have FB or Twitter. I dont online date. But someone explain to me how you have a gf that you've never met? How does that work? And how if you're the biggest name on campus how can you not get a real gf?

[Lil Bit Special]

Pretty much. If he wasnt in on it he would have spoken immediately. Funny thing is he signed with CAA, they same team that conjured up this whole Jeremy Lin nonsense. The Teo family can bring out all the Samoans they want but Teo is clearly lying and was involved every step of the way. Couldnt happen to a better school.

I dont believe he was in on it the whole way. I do believe he was naive and a little dumb about it, but when he found out the truth, he continued it to help his cause for Heisman and for his team (and possibly ND was involved to keep him quiet about it also). Also, I think the embarrassment factor played a huge role in him not discussing it.

If he really was this dumb, he will have a lot of explaining to do to the NFL teams interested in drafting him. Maybe he;s just a social retard, who knows.

[T0mShane]

how can you not get a real gf?

Oh, hypocrisy, thou most foul of demons.

[Matt39]

I dont believe he was in on it the whole way. I do believe he was naive and a little dumb about it, but when he found out the truth, he continued it to help his cause for Heisman and for his team (and possibly ND was involved to keep him quiet about it also). Also, I think the embarrassment factor played a huge role in him not discussing it.

If he really was this dumb, he will have a lot of explaining to do to the NFL teams interested in drafting him. Maybe he;s just a social retard, who knows.

Oh come on. Dont give me the babe in woods routine Karen!

Teo isnt stupid. This Roniah kid is clearly his buddy and theyre both social weirdos who got off on ppl feeling sorry for them. Kids crave attention through sympathy more so than ever these days. I think its fairly obvious what went on here....again he can bring out all the Samoans he wants but the longer he's in hidding the sillier he looks.

[Lil Bit Special]

I'm not into social media, dont have FB or Twitter. I dont online date. But someone explain to me how you have a gf that you've never met? How does that work? And how if you're the biggest name on campus how can you not get a real gf?

I would love to hear the stories from the sluts he supposedly banged at ND.

[T0mShane]

Te'o got destroyed by Alabama because Alabama has an NFL Oline and NFL backs. If your NFL team has to play NFL competition, you probably should be leery of over-investing in Manti Te'o.

[CrazyCarl40]

WHat facts?

The fact some Samoan we've never heard of came out to stick up for him?

You're bizarrely invested in Teo's well being. The kids a tool. Who cares.

I just find it funny because this kid was unfairly trumpeted by the media because he went to ND, who had lighting strike basically 4 times to have them go undefeated...when he isnt even that good of a player. The fall from grace is a great story....over something this absurd.

Follow the story. Get the facts. You are grossly misinformed. Many people are sticking up for him, including the AD of ND, and many, many others who have thoroughly investigated the situation and know way more about it than you or I do. The fact you're getting jollies over someone else's misfortunes tells me enough about you as a person to be done responding to you now.