A college US football star is to play again after he was acquitted of the murder of his male Tinder date who allegedly posed as a woman.

Isimemen Etute, 19, had admitted beating 40-year-old openly gay Jerry Paul Smith to death when they met for sex in 2021.

But he told the court he had acted in self-defence and thought he had been meeting a 22-year-old woman called Angie Renee.

Earlier this year a jury found him not guilty of second-degree murder.

Now Etute is to return to football after agreeing to enroll at Iowa Western Community college where he is expected to turn out as a linebacker.

Etute was a freshman college player when he first matched with “Angie” on Tinder.

He told the court they had met in April last year when Smith gave him USD 50 to receive oral sex.

A month later, the footballer went to Smith’s apartment where he was told ‘Angie’ would only meet him in the dark.

A detective at the trial said that Etute groped Smith to verify his gender and was horrified when he realised ‘Angie’ was a man, while Etute told the court he feared for his life when he saw Smith reaching for the mattess.

A knife was later found hidden inside the bed.

Smith died of multiple injuries after Etute punched and kicked him repeatedly.