National Football League

This lady saved Laremy Tunsil's life on Thursday night at the NFL Draft

Published Apr. 29, 2016 4:37 a.m. ET

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Andre Vergara

Laremy Tunsil was singing like a canary.

The 21-year-old Ole Miss lineman was going through the Draft Night From Hell, having dropped like a rock after someone hacked his Twitter account and, right before the draft started, posted a video of him smoking in some kind of gasmask bong.

Then, while that damage was still fresh and the TV cameras were cutting to him repeatedly to capture his agony, his Instagram was hacked and someone posted screen grabs of text messages that appeared to show Tunsil asking an Ole Miss coach for money.

Mercifully, the Miami Dolphins drafted Tunsil at No. 13, and he got to shake Roger Goodell's hand, put on the hat, hold up the jersey and smile.

But as soon as he got off that stage, he started to crumble under questioning.

He tried to stonewall ESPN's Suzy Kolber when she asked if the smoking guy in the video was him, but eventually admitted it was. He admitted the same at his press conference, but initially denied taking money from a coach. "Nah, I wouldn't say that," he said.

Less than a minute later, however, after admitting that the text messages were real, he again was asked "Was it an exchange between you and your coach, for money?"

"I'd have to say yeah," he replied.

At this point, Tunsil was in full confessional mode and wiping sweat off his head every few seconds. Who knows what we were about to hear next.

Someone asked "Have you talked to the NCAA at all, in this investigation?" That's when an unidentified handler swooped out of the wings, announced "He's got no more comments" and ushered a relieved Tunsil off the stage and behind closed doors, where he reportedly was briefed.

Most likely, that conversation went something like this:

"One, shut the heck up."

"Two, delete your dang social media accounts."

"Three, go to your hotel room, lock the door, go to bed, wake up in the morning and wait for us to tell you what to say next." 

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