Notre Dame officials are standing by Te'o as of now, and the runner-up for this past season's Heisman award is currently working out for NFL teams. In his impressive final season as Notre Dame's star linebacker, he accumulated 113 tackles and had seven interceptions. And, the eight postseason awards he earned at the end of the year make him one of the most decorated defensive players in college football history.
Te'o's NFL draft status will likely not be affected by the scandal, no matter how strange and revealing it gets, according to many professionals, including former Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick. He will most likely still be drafted in the first round of the draft in April.
And as for cancer fundraising initiaves started and inspired by Teo's (now fake) tale of his loss of Kekua? So far, reports have come out that at least one of them will not be abandoned. After the Irish lost their title game on January 7, one fan started a $5,000 leukemia research fundraising drive on Indiegogo.com soon afterward.
In an email, a spokesperson from Indiegogo.com told me, "At this time, Indiegogo does not have plans to take the campaign down in light of the recent hoax allegations." And unless that campaign too is found to be fraudulent or in violation of the site's terms of service, the money raised (over $4,400 so far) will still go directly to its intended destination, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
So if you're looking for a real silver lining amid this bizarre, fast-moving scandal, this is it.
Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
Great article, Charlie!
2 - Igor
The worship we lavish on sports and sport figures is shocking.
No one should care that much about those unfortunate characters.
3 - Igor
Just another headline in the Showbiz section of the news, folks, designed to draw your consumer eye to an advertisement for Tide Soap Suds, or somesuch.
What weird idea will the sports scriptwriters come up with next? Stay tuned!