By Evan Ortiz

Manti Te’o is one of the most talked about college athletes in quite some time, for his ability on the field but now the off the field situation is what is really getting his name spread around the “death” and resurfacing of Te’o’s once thought to be dead girlfriend has fingers pointed at him for generating a hoax to improve his claim to fame season.

Te’o was the starting middle linebacker for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team that recently played in the BCS national championship game against second – ranked Alabama, suffering a blowout loss. Te’o signed throughout the whole season shined as a playmaker and on the field leader playing through the death of several family members and his girlfriend, or so he thought.

On Dec. 6 Manti Te’o received a call from “Lennay Kekua”, his “dead” girlfriend. She attempted to explain why she lied about death, merely days before Te’o was going to attend the Heisman trophy presentation. Bewildered, Te’o proceeded to say that his girlfriend was still dead, not knowing if the person he received the call from was actually Lennay Kekua.

In an interview with CNN’s Katie Couric, Te’o went on to say that his girlfriend and relationship was a hoax. Falling prey to the internet relationship trap, his “girlfriend” never truly showed to be his girlfriend. He never knew this going into the relationship but in the end it proved to be a large scale fiasco in which Te’o was left the victim.

Many are still sceptical about the story, so on top of Te’o’s emotional pain, he is suffering under the scrutinizing eye of America, as many analysts and everyday citizens are choosing to not believe him, adding insult to injury.