Manti Te’o deletes Twitter account, focuses on NFL Draft
Manti Te’o reportedly deleted his Twitter account to focus on NFL Draft. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Former Notre Dame linebacker and All-American Manti Te’o won’t be anywhere near a social media platform as he has deleted his Twitter account to prepare for the NFL Draft, reports ESPN.com.
His account, @MTeo_5, was deleted sometime during the Super Bowl on Sunday. The reports states that Te’o will be off Twitter “for an indefinite period of time to prepare for the NFL draft.”
Te’o was the center of a controversy last month when it was reported by Deadspin.com that the story of his girlfriend Lennay Kekua dying of leukemia in September was not true. It was revealed that the hoax was made up by a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, who said he created Kekua and communicated with Te’o as the woman during phone calls and text messages. Te’o said he had nothing to do with the hoax.
Despite the strange story, many draft analysts do not see Te’o dropping far down in the draft. Te’o moved down from No. 6 to No. 12 in the last version of ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper’s big board because of what Kiper attributes to “positional value” in the draft order.
Te'o draft stock has plummeted. Te'o is one of the most unliked sports figures in the U.S. And Te'o might be gay. Read more at: http://the-nba-insider.blogspot.com/2013/01/is-mante-teo-gay.html
I heard last night about a Forbes list of the most disliked atheletes. Te'O was tied with Lance Armstrong for the top spot.
OK, he's stupid and immature, but how many kids that age aren't. I just don't get all the hate directed at him. He has done nothing to hurt anyone. If he was in on it (which I don't think he was) it was a really lame prank that hurt no one. If he was just the victim, as he would have us believe, he was really stupid but he was the one that got hurt.
Why all the hate?
Te'o has room to grow, potential and should do well in the NFL after maturing. With the run option a lot of teams are running, MLB is becoming more about athleticism and speed. Ray Lewis led the playoffs in tackles, didn't mean much given almost every single one of them was after a positive gain. Just because Te'o had his worst game against Bama should not eliminate his entire body of work from consideration.
It's good to see only a few responses; the public is weary of Te'o in spite of media attempts to get more 'hits' on this soap opera topic.
Why would anyone draft him? He is too little. He will get smashed just like in the Alabama game.
I can see why you're anonymous; your "facts" are all wrong.
@JamesZeller You are correct, I was wrong. He is ranked 57th not 52nd.
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/individual/1013
Why would he draft so high while ranked 52nd in total tackles with only one for a loss? Isn't that incredibly poor for a MLB? Are they just wanting to see him get run over on a weekly basis by guys like Eddie Lacy?
@Anonymous_Source Eh, Urlacher has averaged about 90 tackles and 3.5 sacks a year - MLB is more of a field general. Not saying T'eo didn't get smashed in the title game, but to write him off for that one performance is a bit a much.