Teammate on Manti Te’o: ‘He Lied, But the Media Blew It Up’

In what she’s trumpeting as an exclusive, sportswriter Jackie Pepper writes about an interview she had with an unnamed Notre Dame player who admits teammates had strong suspicions about the validity of Manti Te’o’s fictional girlfriend.

The Notre Dame football player, who asked for anonymity, told Pepper On Sports, “No we all knew he had only seen her once.  But when the media was saying how he went through both deaths we knew,”  said the source.

Early in my conversation with the source, the Notre Dame player said, “He lied, but the media blew it up.”  In response to my follow-up question asking if the source thought that Te’o kept the story going because of the media attention, the player replied, “Yeah.  Right after the Michigan [State] game.  He should have never brought her in the media. His grandma passing was enough.”

The player said the issue was never brought up to Te’o directly, but that teammates harbored doubts when the Heisman Trophy candidate would get emotional to the media about his girl.

On the bright side, the player said he thought Te’o was a skilled actor.

[H/T: Pepper on Sports]