Manti Te’o, whose undead, ungirlfriend has become the talk of the entire country and the butt of it’s jokes, spoke with ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap off-camera, and after negotiating the interview through his agent at CAA. Schaap said Te’o seemed genuine and unflinching in his responses, but many of his answers are only leading to more questions.

Te’o says he lied to his father about meeting his supposed girlfriend, Lennay Kekua and that he “tailored” his stories to the media so that people would think they met before she passed away. He also said he tried to Skype and Facetime with Kekua several times but the person at the other end of the line was always in a “black box.” When asked about why he never visited her in the hospital when she was supposedly dying from cancer, the star linebacker, graduating from Notre Dame University, with a degree in graphic design, said, “It never really crossed my mind.” Astonishly, Te’o also said wasn’t sure that the whole thing was a hoax until the Deadspin.com article was posted this Wednesday, which conflicts with much of what Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said in a press conference this week.