The Manti Te'o saga has blown up all around the sports media world and now the Notre Dame linebacker will hit the daytime talk show circuit.
According to ESPN.com, Te'o and his family will give their first on-camera interview with Katie Couric and will appear on her day syndicated daytime talk show Thursday. ABC News announced the interview Sunday, but gave no details as to when it will take place and where.
This interview follows an off-camera interview with ESPN and Jeremy Schaap in which Te'o said he was the victim of a hoax and insisted he did not take part in the creation of the situation. Te'o claimed he had an online relationship with the woman and said he never met her. Te'o told ESPN that the person suspected of being the mastermind of the hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, has contacted him and apologized.
A spokesman for Te'o, Matthew Hiltzik, told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap on Sunday that Te'o is "grateful and appreciative of all the support he's gotten from people who say they believe in him. "He's also grateful for the many other people who have come forward, through social media and personal contacts, to say they were victims of similar hoaxes. Total strangers have reached out to him to say they've been through similar experiences."
He entire situation first arose after Deadspin.com reported that it could find no record of Te'o's girlfriend Lennay Kekua existing. Notre Dame issued a news release following the report, saying that "the proper authorities" are investigating a "very cruel deception."
Te'o issued a statement the following afternoon:
"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her."
Te'o previously said that his girlfriend had inspired him to play better during the season and he helped the Irish make it to the BCS National Championship game against Alabama.
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Te'o reached out to his coaches and university officials on Dec. 26, after which the school investigated the situation and found out that it was a hoax and confirmed that the linebacker was not involved.
The university hired outside investigators on Dec. 29. The school informed Teo's parents, Brian and Ottilia, about the investigation results on Jan. 5.
"We asked them to focus on any threats to the university or its reputation, by providing more information about the so-called Kekua family that might help us understand motives, or whether they might have had any contact with others at Notre Dame," said Brown, who declined to name the firm.
More information continued to come out and be scrutinized including the transcript of an interview that was previously unpublished that Te'o had for a feature story with Sports Illustrated that detailed the death of his girlfriend. Pete Thamel, the writer of the story, posted the transcript, part of which read:
"We met just, ummmm, just she knew my cousin. And kind of saw me there so. Just kind of regular," he told SI.
The Deadspin report stated that Kekua does not have a death certificate and Stanford, where she reportedly went to school, has no record of anybody by that name. According to ESPN.com, friends and relatives of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, a high school classmate of Te'o, told Deadspin they believe he created Kekua.
Tuiasosopo is described in the report as an athlete from a football family who had cousins and relatives play football in college and in the NFL. The Deadspin report claims that Te'o and Tuiasosopo had met before and had communicated on Twitter.
The Deadspin report also stated that a friend of Tuiasosopo was quoted as saying he was "80 percent sure" hat Manti Te'o was "in on it," and that the two perpetrated Lennay Kekua's death with publicity in mind. The report offers a full timeline of tweets and other communications via social media.
According to Deadspin, the only photos that have been found online that identified Kekua are actually pictures of another 22-year-old woman. That woman, not named in the report, told Deadspin one of those photos likely was shared by Tuiasosopo.
Te'o's draft stock started to drop even before the news came out about his fake/hoax girlfriend. He was overpowered by Alabama's running backs on the opening drive of the national title game and finished with 10 tackles as the Irish defense was blown out 42-14. The team allowed over 500 total yards and gave up 265 rushing yards on the ground.
Initially looked at as a mid-to-late first round pick by most draft experts like Mel Kiper and Todd McShay, now Te'o is being projected as a fourth or fifth round pick. Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick spoke at a press conference on Wednesday and supported Te'o, saying that the school was notified in December about the situation.
Te'o finished second in the Heisman voting behind Texas A&M freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel, who broke Cam Newton's Southeastern Conference-record for total offense with 4,600 and threw for 3,419 yards 24 touchdowns with just eight interceptions. He completed over 68 percent of his passes and had a rating of 155.9.
Notre Dame's defense was totally dominated by Alabama in the national title game and finished the year ranked second in the nation in points with 12.8 per game. The Irish were rated number one for the majority of the regular season, finishing with 10.3 points per game.
Te'o finished the season with 113 tackles, 1.5 sacks, four passes defended and a nation-high seven interceptions. He had interceptions in back-to-back games against Brigham Young and Oklahoma and made a season-high 12 tackles against Michigan State on Sept. 15. Te'o made at least five tackles in every game during the 2012 season and had 5.5 tackles for loss.
In the final game against USC, Te'o had five tackles and one interception in Notre Dame's 22-13 win. He registered double-digit tackles in six games this season and had two interceptions in Notre Dame's 13-6 win on Sept. 22.
