Manti Te’o has joined the NFL Network’s revamped Good Morning Football lineup. While he’s excited to talk about football, he knows his new position gives him a chance to do something even more important.
GMFB took a four-month hiatus this year to move from New York to Los Angeles. It returned on July 29 with some familiar faces (hosts Jamie Erdahl, Kyle Brandt, and Peter Schrager) and some new ones (Akbar Gbajabiamila and reporter Sherree Burruss).
And now Te’o, who debuted on Thursday’s GMFB, joins the cast. Te’o definitely knows the game, having starred at Notre Dame and for eight seasons as an NFL linebacker.
Te’o talked briefly about his love of football, including fantasy football.
“I’ve become the GM I hated when I played,” he joked about his rampant trading and roster moves as a fantasy manager.
But Te’o also admitted his new role gives him a “voice” to help people. He’s the first to admit his career was defined by the fraudulent “catfishing” incident during his senior season at Notre Dame. That involved him being tricked by an imaginary online girlfriend.
That story made headlines when it came to light in 2013, and it changed the star player’s life. Netflix recounted the incident in a documentary, Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist .
“It’s very big of you then to take your life in a direction to sit at this table, and frankly, at the direction of reopening a scar that is probably still very sensitive to you in an era where we are valuing athlete mental health now more than ever,” Erdahl told Te’o. “Is that why you come to a table like this?… I’m surprised you don’t hold resentment towards what the media machine did to you.”
“There are so many people that reached out to me, all over the world, that said, ‘Hey listen, your story really impacted me,” Te’o said. “Now, that put a responsibility on me to say … not everybody knows the truth. Not everybody saw the documentary. So, what good can I do? Well, in order for you to do any type of good, you have to have a voice that people will listen to.
“And what a great opportunity that NFL Network has given me to be on camera with again my NFL Network family, the Good Morning Football family, where I can be able to add some value, and also have value added to me and grow my family,” Te’o continued.
“I’m just here to spread as much positivity as I can, to spread good energy.”
Te’o has done just fine since his 2020 retirement as a player, working in entrepreneurial and private equity ventures and raising his daughter.
[ NFL Network ]
The post Manti Te’o joins NFL Network, says position gives him ‘voice’ to help others appeared first on Awful Announcing .
Most Popular
Comments / 0