By Greg Botelho and Lateef Mungin, CNN
updated 1:52 AM EST, Sat January 19, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Manti Te'o talks to ESPN about his alleged girlfriend hoax
- "I wasn't faking it," he says in an off -camera interview
- Te'o rose to national prominence by leading the Fighting Irish to an undefeated regular season
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(CNN) -- Manti Te'o -- one of the best defenders this season in college football -- defended himself in an ESPN interview Friday night, saying there was no way he was part of a hoax involving a deceased girlfriend.
"I wasn't faking it," he told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap in an off -camera interview highlighted on the network. "I wasn't part of this."
Notre Dame star Manti Te'o
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For the past two days, the former Notre Dame linebacker has been the subject of ridicule after reports surfaced that the girlfriend he'd gushed about and said died this fall of leukemia never existed.
Te'o rose to national prominence by leading the Fighting Irish to an undefeated regular season, amassing double-digit tackle games and becoming the face of one of the best defenses in the nation.
As he and his team excelled, Te'o told interviewers in September and October that his grandmother and girlfriend -- whom he described as a 22-year-old Stanford University student -- had died within hours of each other.
The twin losses inspired him to honor them with sterling play on the field, Te'o said. He led his team to a 20-3 routing of Michigan State after he heard the news.
"I miss 'em, but I know that I'll see them again one day," he told ESPN.
He was second in the Heisman race and led his team to the championship game, losing to Alabama.
The fairy tale story ended on Wednesday when sports website Deadspin published a piece dismissing as a hoax the existence of Te'o's girlfriend and suggesting he was complicit.
"When (people) hear the facts, they'll know," Te'o told ESPN. "They'll know that there is no way that I could be part of this."
CNN's Phil Gast and Amanda Watts contributed to this report.
Part of complete coverage on
Manti Te'o hoax
updated 11:28 AM EST, Fri January 18, 2013
This may be the strangest twist in a tale overflowing with strangeness. Manti Te'o's deceased girlfriend tweeted late Wednesday night.
updated 9:46 AM EST, Fri January 18, 2013
Te'o is now a meme -- posting pictures of yourself with your arm around an imaginary girlfriend. They call it "Te'oing."
updated 10:44 AM EST, Fri January 18, 2013
Manti Te'o's Twitter bio reads: "Life is a storm.. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes." The storm has arrived.
updated 11:04 AM EST, Fri January 18, 2013
Oh, the stories we storytellers tell. Like the story of brave Manti Te'o and his doomed girlfriend. We love a good story. We love spinning a good yarn.
updated 9:46 AM EST, Fri January 18, 2013
Was Manti Te'o a hapless victim or a duplicitous co-conspirator?
updated 9:52 AM EST, Fri January 18, 2013
I wouldn't normally pay much attention to a sports star, even a Fighting Irish hero.
updated 7:36 AM EST, Thu January 17, 2013
Here are some of the recent events in the bizarre story of Manti Te'o and a dead girlfriend who apparently never existed:
updated 8:50 AM EST, Thu January 17, 2013
After word broke of a hoax about the death of star Manti Te'o's "girlfriend," it didn't take long for "Te'o" to become the top-trending term on Twitter.
updated 9:37 PM EST, Wed January 16, 2013
Deadspin.com Editor Timothy Burke says the story about Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o's girlfriend is a hoax.
updated 11:13 AM EST, Thu January 17, 2013
Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o says he's the victim of a hoax. Anderson Cooper talks to the reporter who broke the news.
updated 7:52 AM EST, Thu January 17, 2013
As the big game with No. 10 Michigan State approached, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o had a heavy heart after he learned his girlfriend had lost her fight with leukemia.
updated 10:17 AM EST, Thu January 17, 2013
A dog tapping away at a computer keyboard turns to another dog and says, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
updated 4:40 AM EST, Thu January 17, 2013
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick compared the alleged hoax about a "girlfriend" that ensnared linebacker Manti Te'o with the documentary "Catfish."
updated 11:22 PM EST, Wed January 16, 2013
Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o said he was the victim of a "sick joke" that had him and legions of fans believing in a "girlfriend" who may never have existed.
Manti Te'o: 'I wasn't faking it'
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