Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
The story of Manti Te’o and the hoax that went on with him and his girlfriend has had more twists and turns than a rollercoaster. I’ve spent another day just seeing what new information has come out about the events and I hate to say this: it is sounding more and more to me like Te’o knew at least something about what was going on. Te’o may not have known a lot, but he knew something.
There was a former teammate who said that the team figured that the girlfriend didn’t exist, but just let it go. We have all learned a lot about catfishing over the past few days and it is a trend that is only increasing, but what Te’o went through may have been one of the most planned and executed event of catfishing people have seen. There have been conflicting reports on what day Te’o got a phone call where he knew something weird was going on as well. Things just don’t add up for me, including Te’o talking about this “girlfriend” on two occasions in the media between Dec. 6 and Dec. 26, after he has admitted that he got the call on Dec. 6.
The firestorm that Te’o is under is only going to stop when one thing happens: Te’o coming out to have a press conference and answering every single question truthfully. He has his reputation on the line along with that of Notre Dame, who stuck their neck out for Te’o thinking that he was telling them the whole truth. As the old saying goes where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Right now, there is a raging fire going on with Te’o, and it is up to him to put out the flames before it burns his whole career down.
Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports or like his Facebook page.
