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Manti Te’o is officially back in the NFL!
Well, sort of.
Te’o — the former Notre Dame superstar who went viral after it was revealed that his “girlfriend” Lennay Kekua, who “died” of leukemia during Te’o’s senior season, never actually existed and was the product of a hoax — played parts of eight seasons in the NFL before retiring in 2020.
On Friday, Te’o announced that he’s joining the cast of NFL Network’s Good Morning Football.
Manti Te'o explains why he's joining NFL Network ❤️ pic.twitter.com/LPfY3wiGzC
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) August 15, 2024
Manti Te’o Jokes About Catfish Scandal While Making Good Morning Football Debut
“When you’re in this position, you can either use it to do good or you can use it to do bad,” Te’o said of joining the show. “My parents taught me ever since I was little, ‘always do things to do good in this world.’ …But the whole reason I’m on this show is, number one, I love football … but also, there are so many people that reached out to me all over the world that said ‘hey, listen, your story really impacted me in a way that you have no idea how much that it saved me.'”
Te’o then stated that in order to do any type of good, he needed to have a voice and a platform. And that Good Morning NFL can serve as that platform.
It was a lovely sentiment. But Te’o also had a bit of fun with at well.
During a trivia segment with Kyle Brandt, Te’o joked that has not Googled himself since 2013, “for obvious reasons.”
Teo’s story is one of, if not the craziest that we can remember in recent college football history.
In just a matter of months, his life and career were turned upside down. So it’s good to see that he can now have a bit of fun with it while also trying to make a positive impact in the process.