Caught this video of Manti Teo reminiscing about his ND career while being interviewed on The Pat McAfee Show. It is 30+ minutes long, but well worth the watch.
Several things caught my attention.
One, Manti still has a lot of love and aloha for ND. He is an ND man through and through. Love the guy.
Two, Manti talks a little bit about the catfishing hoax, how it wounded him, but how he was able to forgive both the victimizer and himself and move on with his life. It was a powerful message. I have not watched the entire Netflix episode, but now I think I must.
Three, I thought it was interesting how much respect Manti obviously has for Marcus Freeman, a coach that Manti never played a down for. Manti spoke highly of MF several times during the interview, which is the same thing we have heard from other players--hello Joe Montana--who are coming back to help the program, and it is all because Marcus Freeman took the time and made the effort to reach out to them. The most interesting discussion occurs around the 21:30 mark of the interview, where Manti explains that MF has set up former players with an actual network of ND grads that the players can consult with about their career choices. Wow. I hear stuff like that about MF and I just continue to marvel how Marcus Freeman just GETS it. In contrast, in a 35 minute interview Manti never once mentions Brian Kelly, the guy he played for. I guess that is not surprising, as nobody would ever characterize BK as a warm and fuzzy player's coach, but I found it a little surprising nonetheless. I have no reason to believe Manti holds any animosity for BK, but it would seem odd that Manti speaks so highly of MF and says nothing about BK. If nothing else, we can thank BK for giving us MF.
Lastly, check out the video at the 00:30 mark. Manti still has some guns!
