My Legal Advice

If I'm Manti Te'o's lawyer/pr guy, this is his best out:

The only way I see Manti Te'o redeeming himself now is if he announces he's gay. It would be the fastest fall from grace and subsequent redemption in sports history, with two possible outcomes: He is gay and he becomes the gay Jackie Robinson. Or, he isn't gay and still becomes the gay Jackie Robinson, but is forced to live the rest of his life pretending to be gay in the worst lie gone wrong ever. Either way, I think there may be enough here for a "Fourth-and-God Part III" movie.

If he announces his gayness, at least the entire story will make sense.  It was a cover to throw off his teammates that inadvertently exploded into a national new story.  Woops!  But then he can't tell the truth without revealing he's gay now that he's become a national football icon.  Tough situation.  And because he is a dumb 21 year old he comes up with the "she died of leukemia" story even though no one dies of leukemia anymore.

Now, the only problem with this angle, of course, is if Te'o is not gay.  Then he needs to pretend to be gay for a certain amount of time to let this all wash over - maybe not the rest of his life - but at least for awhile.  But then consider this:  if he isn't gay, he's already perpetrated (or been complicit in) one of the strangest hoaxes imaginable.  Why not take it to the next level?  Just keep riding the hoax further and further?  He's got nothing to lose, like a blackjack player who was up 100G down to his last grand.  What are you going to do now?  Walk away from the table?  No way.