ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Manti Te’o, who moved “catfishing” from MTV lingo to the mainstream lexicon, claimed no teams asked about his sexual orientation at the NFL Combine and insisted none asked him anything that crossed the line. But he admitted the combine was stressful, and said his slow 40-yard dash time suffered for it.
“No, no,” Te’o said when asked if teams had asked whether he was gay. “Anything they asked me I answered and answered honestly.”
The linebacker’s sexuality had been the subject of debate after Te’o, who led Notre Dame to the national title game and became the first player to sweep the Maxwell and Chuck Bednarik Awards yesterday at Harrah’s, was in a media maelstrom since it came out his girlfriend, who supposedly died of cancer in October, never really existed and was part of a hoax being perpetrated on Te’o.
Jets senior personnel executive Terry Bradway told Gang Green’s website the hoax situation — straight out of the MTV show Catfish — “scares you a little bit” and added the Jets wouldn’t draft him with their ninth overall pick. And NBC Sports’ Mike Florio said Monday several teams wanted to know if Te’o was gay.
But with sexual orientation rights varying by state and not governed by federal legislation, 13 of the 32 teams are specifically prohibited from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
In essence, they can’t ask, and he doesn’t have to tell. But for the record, he said no teams did.
“No, no. I don’t think … that’s a personal thing,’’ said Te’o, whose greater concern could be his pedestrian 4.82 40 time. The seventh-worst time among linebackers, combined with his poor showing against Alabama, could cause him to drop.
Te’o said he has run 4.6 before and hopes to do it at Notre Dame’s pro day this month, admitting the stress actually hurt his time.
“It’s difficult to balance things and stay just focused on what you’ve got to do,” Te’o said. “But for me, I’m glad the combine is done and I finished with that. I’m focused more on specific things like my 40, and I don’t have to worry about so much other things. But definitely it’s difficult. I’m not going to say it’s easy.’’
Te’o said he had a strategy for dealing with all the drama the catfishing has brought on.
“Avoid,’’ Te’o said with a chuckle. “Avoid a lot of the stuff. Just knowing what you can control and knowing what you can’t control.
“And what I can control is preparing for the combine, making myself the best player, the best person that I can be. Whatever that is, I tend to focus on that.’’