Manti T'eo

[PurplePPLEater]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... owing-hoax
See? SEE???? This guy is LOONEY. Please, stay away from him... I'm afraid he will start having an afair with Pippy Longstocking or something.

I'm pretty sure that after he found out it was a hoax he wouldn't want to come out and say it right away. Especially considering the 40+ day layoff between then and the national championship game. Think about how much of a distraction that would have been for his whole team. If the latest reports are true, I'm sure it distracted him enough during the alabama game, which could be the reason for his poor play.

It's such a bizzare story that it's going to be really hard to actually know what happened until a week or two from now. It's kind of ironic how every day people are jumping all over every report and forming their opinions so quickly before the actual whole truth is even out yet.

[Howlers]

Whatever about his game against Bama and the "hoax" girlfriend, he's not going to fall outside of the 1st round. I would be completely shocked if he did. And if he did, the Vikes should trade up and take him near the start of the 2nd, if they haven't taken Ogletree in the 1st. Ideally, take Allen in the 1st and trade back in and take Te'o at the end of the 1st. That would be beautiful!!

[saint33]

Read the interview he had on espn today, I don't see any reason to believe that he is making up some elaborate lie to hide the truth, he gets pretty specific about certain conversations that he had that I find it hard to believe the accusations. The interview addresses most, if not all the questions about the situation that left doubt. I think it's also pretty important to remember that no one involved in the situation has accused him of anything, the tuiasosopo side have remained quiet while manti has been adamant he was not involved. The media who slanted this story to insinuate his guilt should be ashamed, and it's warped the public's opinion based on pure speculation and accusation.

[saint33]

I believe him somewhat. And I don't think he had anything to do it originally. But the timeline just doesn't add up and he's been lying about it for at least a month.

Either he was ashamed he got duped and didn't want to admit it or he liked the publicity so he kept going with it.

Did you read the interview? The idea that he was aware it was a hoax in early December isnt true. He was aware something was strange, but he still at that time believed in her existence

[PurpleMustReign]

Did you read the interview? The idea that he was aware it was a hoax in early December isnt true. He was aware something was strange, but he still at that time believed in her existence

So, you are not believing the facts that are coming out, you are only believing what he is saying? I assume you are not a judge...

[saint33]

So, you are not believing the facts that are coming out, you are only believing what he is saying? I assume you are not a judge...

What facts? It's all hear say. Show me facts that he knew about it and then I might believe the allegations

[PurpleKoolaid]

The whole thing was a hoax, and it was meant to belittle Teo because he is a Mormon. And I guess Mormons cant havesex until they get married and Tae believed that and was a virgin. So it isnt as far fetched as I thought i first. I know very little about Mormons.

Some #### took advantage of a nice guy. I suppose now everyone will treat Teo like Tebow. Except Teo has some skills.

[dead_poet]

As I kind of suspected, he was innocent and duped. Then he spoke about it and it became part of his "story." Instead of coming out and admitting the rather large embarrassment he kept to the story. Hard to blame him.

Manti Te'o Tells Katie Couric He Briefly Lied About Girlfriend After Hoax Discovery

"Katie, put yourself in my situation. I, my whole world told me that she died on Sept. 12. Everybody knew that. This girl, who I committed myself to, died on Sept. 12," Te'o said.

Te'o said he received a phone call Dec. 6 from a woman claiming she was Kekua, even though Kekua had allegedly passed away three months earlier.

"Now I get a phone call on Dec. 6, saying that she's alive and then I'm going be put on national TV two days later. And to ask me about the same question. You know, what would you do?" Te'o said.

http://gma.yahoo.com/teo-tells-couric-b ... ories.html

[PurpleMustReign]

He keeps telling different reporters different things. I'm still not impressed. I don't trust his words anymore.

[BGM]

It just bugs me that this is overshadowing his obvious upside as a player. Once all the rampant speculation is stripped away, the story is pretty straight-forward, really. The fact the kid dropped a few white lies here and there because he panicked in the face of overwhelming media attention does not seriously concern me. I mean, did he do drugs? Did he rob anyone? Heck, did he even speed? Nope, nope and nope. But in this era of the 24 hour news cycle and "reality" television, sports media and fans crave personal drama and devour it without a second thought to the human cost.

This is an excellent player who throughout his life has been pegged as a high character kid. Flinching in the glare of media scrutiny doesn't give me any pause at all. Make him a Viking and I would be thrilled, and I bet the rest of the organization would be as well.

[Mothman]

It just bugs me that this is overshadowing his obvious upside as a player. Once all the rampant speculation is stripped away, the story is pretty straight-forward, really. The fact the kid dropped a few white lies here and there because he panicked in the face of overwhelming media attention does not seriously concern me. I mean, did he do drugs? Did he rob anyone? Heck, did he even speed? Nope, nope and nope. But in this era of the 24 hour news cycle and "reality" television, sports media and fans crave personal drama and devour it without a second thought to the human cost.

This is an excellent player who throughout his life has been pegged as a high character kid. Flinching in the glare of media scrutiny doesn't give me any pause at all. Make him a Viking and I would be thrilled, and I bet the rest of the organization would be as well.

Great post! That was extremely well said.

In the end, after all the media uproar over this unusual situation, I doubt it will impact T'eo's draft position at all unless he does a poor job of answering questions at the combine. As long as they're able to feel confident about his character, teams will judge him on his overall performance as a college player and how he performs at his pro day and the combine itself.

[S197]

It just bugs me that this is overshadowing his obvious upside as a player.

Doesn't bug me, I think this is the only way the Vikings have a shot at grabbing him. I just hope the other 21 teams in front of the Vikings buy it but Spielman is smart enough to see past it.

[BGM]

Doesn't bug me, I think this is the only way the Vikings have a shot at grabbing him. I just hope the other 21 teams in front of the Vikings buy it but Spielman is smart enough to see past it.

I really like your take on this!

[PurpleKoolaid]

Meh. I think the Alabama game was more of a hit on his draft prospectus then this. He was over-hyped all year because of A) who he played for and B) the "story." Had he played for anyone else other than Notre Dame, hell even if he plays for that same Alabama team who exposed him, he's just like any other 1st round draft prospect and doesn't sniff the Heisman.

Really? Show me an example of a LB that preformed well against Bama. Just 1. T'eo is as good as they come. We just dont need him at 24 but whatever team gets him gets a dam good LB.

I wonder if Jeff Ireland will ask him if his fake dead girlfriend is a prostitute?

[VikingLord]

Doesn't bug me, I think this is the only way the Vikings have a shot at grabbing him. I just hope the other 21 teams in front of the Vikings buy it but Spielman is smart enough to see past it.

I'm not so sure about that. Teo was productive at Notre Dame, but his stock might have been influenced a bit by his team going undefeated and some of the hype surrounding him, most of it created by Notre Dame itself. When Teo runs at the Combine or his pro day, don't be surprised if his results suggest a much lower round grade than the hype would indicate. Also, his performance against the Tide left a lot to be desired as well. He was really exposed in a way few future NFL stars are against college competition. Granted, Alabama isn't your uncle's college team in terms of talent, but Teo was really steamrolled, and not just once, but repeatedly. I would hope he could have won a few of the battles in that game, but I didn't see it.

I see Teo as an above-average player who has been seriously hyped up. Based on what I expect him to do during the pre-draft evaluations, I bet his numbers don't come in better than average for the players at his position. Normally, a guy like that at his position would be looking at the 3rd-4th round.

Of course, everything is relative, but if the Vikes do take him at #23 I will consider it a reach, and not just based on the hoax or even what happened against Alabama, but just what I think he's going to bring to the field at the pro level.

If the Vikes do go MLB at #23, a guy like Alec Ogletree makes much more sense. Get a guy with range who can cover in a Tampa 2. Ogletree would be able to do that. Teo is going to be a guy in the Brinkley mode, although maybe not even as good at stopping the run as Brinkley.