Manti Te’o denied being part of a hoax involving a relationship with a person online whom he considered his girlfriend.
“No. Never,”.
“I wasn’t faking it,” he said. “I wasn’t part of this.”
The Notre Dame linebacker also said that he did not make up anything to help his Heisman Trophy candidacy.
“When (people) hear the facts, they’ll know,” he said. “They’ll know that there is no way that I could be part of this.”
Te’o spoke at the IMG Training Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he is preparing for the NFL draft. There were no cameras at the 2½-hour interview, which was recorded.
