Larry Brown Sports

The Manti Te’o jokes have grown old for the most part. Everyone’s got one, and it’s hard to come up with something new at this point. But we think Maxim hit a winner.

Maxim released its Hot 100 list this year and included Te’o's fake girlfriend at No. 69. The image they used was a bikini hovering over some water. It’s the hope Te’o had that never came true.

When I first heard about Te’o's fake girlfriend scoring a spot on the list, I honestly thought they selected the woman whose photos were stolen and used as the face of “Lennay Kekua.” She probably could have made it, too, but this was much better.

Just when it appeared that the smoke from the Manti Te’o fake girlfriend hoax may have nearly cleared, he went and began his career as an NFL linebacker. When the story first broke, the jokes were a dime a dozen. Some were hilarious and others were not all that creative, but Te’o was getting it from all angles.

The heckling has died down a bit, with more of the recent focus having been placed on his poor performance at the NFL Combine or what type of NFL prospect he really is. However, Steve Breen of the San Diego Union-Tribune has gotten things started again with his latest cartoon:

New Charger twitter.com/sdutBreen/stat…

— Steve Breen (@sdutBreen) April 30, 2013

Not bad. As one NFL player mentioned last month, Te’o is bound to be the butt of a lot of jokes in the locker room. Apparently the media is going to get in on the action as well. Like we said before, Te’o had better develop some incredibly thick skin if he wants to succeed at the professional level.

H/T Eye on Football

Manti Te’o is on high alert after getting fooled in the whole Lennay Kekua fake girlfriend hoax story.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Jim Trotter, Te’o told the media during a conference call that he thought his friends were playing a prank on him when he received a call from a California area code during the second round of the NFL Draft on Friday.

It turned out to be the San Diego Chargers calling to inform him they were selecting him with the 38th overall pick in the draft. Maybe Te’o read Tony Moeaki’s tweet during the week and was worried.

San Diego should actually be a good spot for Te’o. The media there is easy-going, there aren’t tabloids or paparazzi, and the fans will likely accept him. He also doesn’t have to worry about the pressure that comes with being a first-round pick. He probably could not have had a more favorable situation. And maybe one day he’ll also get to the point where he’s not worried about people trying to fool him.

Manti Te’o is one of the biggest question marks of the NFL Draft. While his stock fell following the National Championship Game and scouting combine, all it takes is one or two teams to believe in him for the former Notre Dame linebacker to be selected in the first round of the draft.

One thing I have noticed is that in many of the recently published mock drafts, the analysts/reporters have Te’o going to the Vikings at No. 25 overall.

Minnesota has two first-round picks. A lot of people are projecting them to take a wide receiver at No. 23 and then a defensive player at No. 25. Peter Schrager and Mike Mayock have them taking North Carolina DT Sylvester Williams at 25. SI’s Peter King projects the Vikings taking Te’o at 23 and a wide receiver at 25.

Rotoworld’s Evan Silva predicted Minnesota would take Te’o 25th. He included these good nuggets in his analysis:

ESPN is so confident Minnesota will draft Te’o that they’re sending a reporter to the Vikings’ Winter Park facility to have it covered live on Thursday night. Minnesota has a big need at middle linebacker, and GM Rick Spielman loves Notre Dame players, selecting four of them over the past five drafts.

ESPN’s John Clayton also reported on Thursday morning that the Vikings would like to find a way to draft Te’o in the first round.

Though various mock drafts projected Te’o to the Vikings, there is a possibility he doesn’t make it until when they pick. Both NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Stacey Dales are hearing that the Chicago Bears might want to take Te’o at No. 20 overall. Chicago needs some help at linebacker and could opt for one on the board, but does that necessarily mean they want Te’o? No. It’s possible that they are sending out those signs to make the Vikings panic into making a trade.

Over two months have passed since Manti Te’o's relationship with Lennay Kekua was exposed as a fraud, and still some people don’t know what to believe. NFL teams had to decide whether they could trust the former Notre Dame linebacker when evaluating him as a draft prospect.

One thing Te’o has going for him is that Nev Schulman, the creator of the show “Catfish” and someone who once fell for a hoax, believes Te’o's story.

“Unfortunately my opinion on the matter is pretty tame. I think just like Manti says, he got involved in this relationship and started out as a small correspondence and it grew and grew. The more someone opens up to you the more inclined you are to open to them. Then all of a sudden when they are the victim of illnesses and car accidents you feel the need to be there for them, as they would for you. And before you know it you’re in a relationship. So I don’t think there was much of a deeper plotline, but of course one never knows,” Schulman told The Wall Street Journal.

Schulman told The Journal that his experience of being fooled was similar to Manti’s, and even involved a car accident story.

People will believe what they want, but I’m inclined to think like Schulman and believe Te’o's story. Maybe some teams believe Te’o's story while others do not. That’s probably one of many reasons his stock has fallen in the draft. Between a poor combine showing, poor national championship game, and the hoax, teams seemed to be scared away from the linebacker.

Some people think Te’o may go late first round, whereas others feel that is unlikely because he does not project as a three-down linebacker in the pros. We’re guessing he ends up selected late in the first round.

See all the stories related to the Manti Te’o hoax.

Manti Te’o appears to have gotten a bit faster over the past month, and the timing should work out nicely. With the NFL Draft a month away, Te’o participated in Notre Dame’s pro day on Tuesday with a goal of improving upon the unimpressive 40-yard dash time he posted at the NFL Combine last month. He succeeded.

According to ESPN’s Todd McShay, Te’o ran a 4.71 and a 4.75 on Tuesday. Of course, that depends on who is holding the stopwatch and human error comes into play. One AFC scout clocked Te’o as low as 4.68. In any event, he was certainly faster than the 4.82 he posted at the Combine.

In reality, shaving 1/10th of a second off his 40 time will probably have a minimal effect on Te’o's draft stock. Inside linebackers aren’t really judged on straight-line speed. Most experts expect Te’o to go somewhere in the late first or early second round, and that should still hold true. If nothing else, improving the 40 shows that he has been working hard over the past month. When you’ve dealt with the types of distractions Te’o has dealt with, improving in physical drills is always a plus.

Manti Te’o reportedly will not attend the NFL Draft in New York City after turning down invitations to be there.

Te’o worked out Monday at Notre Dame’s Pro Day and improved his draft stock by running a 4.71 40-yard dash time, which improved upon the 4.82 time he clocked at the NFL Scouting Combine last month.

Reporters said after the workout that neither Te’o nor Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert plan to attend the draft in New York.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Te’o turned down two invitations to attend the draft. He adds that unless Te’o was believed to be a top-10 pick, it was unlikely that he would attend.

It’s not at all a surprise to hear that Te’o won’t be in attendance for the draft. After all the time he spent in the spotlight during January and February because of the girlfriend hoax story, why would he want to subject himself to unnecessary attention?