Manti Te’o Will Be Teased In Houston Texans Locker Room Says Antonio Smith
By Mike Dyce
Jan 7, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te
Many are wondering if Manti Te’o will ever get past the cat fishing scandal that rocked college football in January. Te’o said he is ready to focus on football and the future as the NFL Draft approaches, but the locker room in all sports has been known for the “good natured ribbing” teasing and basically rookie hazing.
If for some reason the Houston Texans felt inclined to draft Manti Te’o late in the first round, Te’o might be guaranteed to become a victim of taunts and verbal jests says defensive end Antonio Smith.
“Our locker room is full of clowns and, oh, man people would kill him. I mean he would be the butt of every joke for at least two, three years,” Smith said on Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network.
Surely the playful joking of team mates has to be better than the jokes being passed around Twitter and sports talk radio stations everywhere. But Smith says the way it goes really depends on how Te’o handles the situation.
“You just got to be a good sport, man, it is what it is and you know it is out now, it’s out in the papers and on TV, so all you can do now, you can’t worry about it, you can’t change it, all you can do now is laugh — laugh with us while we’re laughing at you,” Smith said.
Surely this isn’t exclusive to just the Texans locker room. Which ever team drafts him will probably tease him to a certain degree, and certainly the teammates would be interested and ask him questions about it.