Manti Te’o, ’s star linebacker, was one of the feel-good stories of the 2012 college football season, excelling on the field despite the deaths of his grandmother and his girlfriend, he said, within hours of each other.
On Wednesday, that story fell apart when the Web site Deadspin published an article saying that Te’o’s girlfriend never existed.
Notre Dame said in a statement that Te’o was the victim of “what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia.”
Te’o released his own statement, saying he was the target of “what was apparently someone’s sick joke and constant lies,” and calling the situation “painful and humiliating.”
The bizarre developments left many wondering if they, instead of Te'o, were led on -- and whether the heralded linebacker was in on it.
