No. He had been trying to meet the faked girl in person and was told by someone connected with the ruse that she had just died when they got backed into a corner. To make matters worse, it was on the same day as his own grandmother passed. The kid went through hell. I have nothing but respect for him that he has made it through that ridicule and has the strength to continue to live with the misconceptions still out there in the public. That tells me he is tough.

I'm not trying to bring any undue ridicule upon him. I'm going with the reports that were out there. And Te'o, himself, couldn't get his own stories straight.

I just went and looked at some of what was said, to refresh my memory, and I see that Notre Dame's athletic director said that Te'o hadn't told Notre Dame until Dec 26th of that year, but Te'o told ESPN that his fake girlfriend (who was a guy, of course) revealed the hoax to him on the 6th. Yet, it was two days later, on the 8th, that he told some reporters that he had lost both his grandparents and his girlfriend to cancer.

He also had some flowery stories that he made up for the local newspaper in South Bend, when they interviewed him at some point, about how he "met" (in person, according to this story) this supposed girlfriend. He claimed he met "her" after a road loss at Stanford in November 2009.

I'm looking at a whole lot of inconsistency there. If you'd like to debunk any of that, I encourage you to do so. I have no axe to grind. But I can't look at all of that, and think that Te'o was just an innocent victim. It seems like he got punked and didn't want to admit it, and perpetuated the problem.

Oh, no doubt he was hesitant to fess up when he found out the truth. Have you never, when young, chose to "stretch the truth," instead coming clean? To me that's not a terrible character flaw. That is being human and vulnerable.

In all, he has moved on as should all.

I think we are trying to rebuld the dome patrol

Having a sense of humor is not a bad thing.

Why are people thinking we are bringing in starters? You don't bring in people to replace anyone in particular at this point. You bring in people to compete for roster spots in whatever capacity. If Te'o make the squad and contributes in a positive manner then fantastic.

[soapbox]
And, as long as he is a Saint, let's try to drop the ridicule. Being supportive is more constructive. I'm sure each of us has had something happen to us in our past that we would rather be left alone.
[\soapbox]

Want to improve special teams play? Quality backups at LB are one of the main keys. Not saying he is an answer, just saying.