Deadspin: Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend story was a hoax

That's right. I recall that the late Gary Wichard arranged that whole Jimmy Clausen Hall of Fame press conference fiasco, and I think he later became his agent. It was fishy, but not illegal under the NCAA by-laws.

 

That's a second act of this play, but Act 1 is running a little long and not quite finished.

 

More on the Arizona FB ...

RT @SBNationCFB: Appears Manti Te'o was not the only athlete to be fooled by whoever was responsible for Lennay Kekua: http://t.co/wYuwrHO9

 

About time for the star of the show to make an appearance on stage......

 

If you're doing damage control for Te'o what would you do?

I would tell him to come out as being gay even if he's not. People might accept that better than they would try to understand why someone would do this for attention.

Then he can place his bets what would be a bigger drawback for NFL teams, a player who is openly gay, or a player who is a complete sociopath.

It might be a push.

 

It depends, I guess.

If the truth is that he was duped, then he needs to explain in excruciating detail how that occurred. I'd recruit a really good interviewer who would recognize every loose end and work to close it. You don't want to do a Peter Gammons A-Rod interview where follow-up possibilities are left hanging.

 

I'd tell him to stick to his story.

"I was duped. When I found out, I didn't handle it as well as I could, but then again, I'm a kid and nothing like this has ever happened to anyone in my position before so cut me some slack."

Say that over and over and this story's done well in advance of the Combine.

 

Happens all the time with draftable high school baseball players. It's legal within NCAA rules.

Schools are also allowed to set up on-campus meetings between seniors and agents wanting to pitch their services.

 

You seem to believe he was essentially the mastermind or co-mastermind behind this whole thing from the beginning.

Why?

Why would he invent a girl in the fall of 2011, then kill her off for sympathy in 2012? You believe he laid the groundwork for that long?

 

I think your timeline sounds very good, and I bet what happened between Dec 6 and 26 is that Deadspin, or some media person, contacted him asking pointed questions about Lennay's existence and he realized, 'Oh shit, they're onto it, I need to deal with this.'

 

Nah. Sociopath would be a plus for an NFL career.

Being gay would be seen as a negative.

 

Doesn't the Arizona FB put a wrench in the "Te'o is gay" theory?