Leftovers & Links: Manti Te’o’s return to Notre Dame ‘always’ a comfortable one for him, long before recent Netflix doc

Manti Te’o did not need to partake in the recent two-part Netflix documentary, “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist.” The former star Notre Dame linebacker had found enough closure in his life after the chaos and dramatics of the 2012-13 winter, in no small part because he is now married with a one-year-old daughter and a son on the way. But to some extent, he wanted to do the documentary to give back to Notre Dame, among others.

“I didn’t think that it was important in the case of I needed to tell [my story],” Te’o said before the Irish beat Cal, 24-17, on Saturday. “When Netflix first approached me with the opportunity, I told them I didn’t feel the need to. I had experienced closure in my life, and I was at peace with where my life was and what it was going to be, what it could be for the rest of my life. I’m okay.”

Instead, the 2012 unanimous All-American now two seasons removed from his last NFL action saw an opportunity to vindicate anyone who stood by him as Deadspin threw accusations at him in early 2013.

“The main thing I wanted to make sure was there are a lot of you that really supported me over a long period of time that I didn’t give the facts to back everybody up,” he said. “It was kind of my attempt at saying, ‘Hey, listen, thank you for all your support, thank you for standing by me.; …

“With all the truth coming out and with the facts coming out, everybody got to see it. It’s almost like people were like, ‘I told you he was a good dude.’”

To Te’o, Notre Dame as a whole stood in that camp long before the well-received documentary. He has been back to campus a few times in the last decade, perhaps most notably in in 2018 following the sudden death of teammate Kona Schwenke that spring. South Bend has