Manti Te’o back at Notre Dame, and finally at peace

After years of self-reflection, public ridicule and frankly, personal embarrassment over his well-publicized personal dramas, former Notre Dame all-everything linebacker Manti Te’o has finally found peace in his life. 

A unanimous All-American and a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2012, Te’o won seven individual awards that season, including the Maxwell and Bednarik awards that are presented annually to the best player in college football. 

Te’o became a second-round pick of the then-San Diego Chargers in 2013, and has played 62 regular-season games across eight NFL seasons with three teams, making 307 tackles.

Te’o, 31, is now a NFL free agent, who last played for the Chicago Bears in 2020. 

Unfortunately, it’s how Te’o fell into an elaborate catfishing scam toward the end of his senior season that tragically followed him for years to come, and unfairly overshadowed many of his football accomplishments. 

Te’o’s highly visible Notre Dame career and over-publicized personal life came back in the spotlight in August when Netflix released a documentary called “UNTOLD: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist.” 

The two-hour film detailed the hoax that successfully targeted Te’o through the guise of a long-distance relationship and a fictional girlfriend who the scam artist pretended to be through phone calls and internet correspondence.  
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Te’o explained that at first, he was reluctant to exhume those old ghosts and share his story for the documentary, but now, he’s glad he did.

“I had experienced closure in my life. I was at peace with where my life was, and what could be for the rest of my life,” Te’o shared. “But with the opportunity that Netflix presented where they’re saying, ‘Hey, we’re telling the full story.’ I said, ‘Let’s do this.’

“I’m the same guy that I was here [at Notre Dame]. And it’s good for people, and for me, to be reminded of that. I thought [the documentary] was well done and it was exactly what I wanted it to be.” 

During the Cal game weekend, Te’o returned to campus to spend a couple of days around the 2022 Notre Dame team, and with first-year head coach Marcus Freeman.

“Just somebody that you would literally do anything for,” Te’o said of his first impressions of the new Irish skipper. “I think as a head coach, that is the most important thing that you can establish with your players.”

Back at home

Before Saturday’s kickoff, Te’o walked with the team on its “Victory March” from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart to the stadium, following pregame Mass. 

Te’o also met with the media Saturday to talk about the Netflix documentary and how he’s found much peace now 10 years after his graduation. 

“I owe this school everything,” he said. “It’s not only the classroom, but it’s the relationships you make with your classmates, with your professors, that’s what it is for me. It’s the people that make this place.”

To this day, Te’o said he still considers attending Notre Dame one of the two best decisions he ever made, the other being marrying his girlfriend, Jovi Nicole Engbino in 2020. 

The couple has a 1-year-old daughter, Hiromi, with a son on the way. 

“[Jovi] is the anchor of my life,” Te’o said. 

Te’o proudly gloats that his family is priority No. 1. He owns and operates a trucking company to pay the bills and he also recently joined the Transcend team, a Telehealth provider that exclusively works with athletes. 

Te’o explained how during his weekend “back home,” out of love he tried to visit with as many familiar faces as possible, right down to the chefs in the South Dining Hall and the ushers at the stadium. 

“That’s what I want everybody to understand, every student-athlete, every student, anybody who ever comes to this university,” said Te’o, who became choked up when he was introduced on the field before the game, “is to give it everything you’ve got because I promise you, if you do, Notre Dame will return the favor 10 fold.”