His story to me sounds like something a gay man might concoct if he didn't feel he could come out of the closet. "Oh, yeah, I have this totally hot girlfriend, but she lives a long way away, you don't know her."
Then, with the heat on: "Oh, yeah, um, she died. Yeah, real sad, I'm super bummed."
I can't imagine a straight, star linebacker at Notre Dame having this problem.