I think if it turns out that Teo was complicit in this hoax, then it's a shame that he was voted as high as he was in the Heisman vote. To me he clearly wasn't the best defensive player in college ball this past season - Jarvis Jones probably was. A number of others (Clowney, Damontre Moore, Mingo, Milliner, Werner, etc) were better than him as well, in my opinion.
Part of his appeal was that he was a good (not great) defensive player that embodied all that was good about a college athlete. And for him to have dealt with the dual deaths of his grandmother and his supposed girlfriend in the same 24 hours, and then essentially dedicate his season to them - that's terrible. I think Teo's overall popularity because of his story helped with his Heisman campaign, and helped Notre Dame get to the national championship.
On the other hand, if he wasn't involved in the hoax at all, he's got to be one of the most naive, gullible people out there. Surely things didn't add up a number of times during their online/phone relationship. Didn't he ever try to meet her? To be as deeply in love as he claimed, surely he'd have tried to meet her in person at some point before she "died".
edit - some stories are indicating that the person behind the hoax is a (male) friend of Teo's. There are supposedly pictures of the two of them together. Surely if this guy was pretending to be the girlfriend, Teo would have recognized his voice? If he truly wasn't involved.