Welcome to the first edition of Throw Back Thursday Quarterback or TBTQB. As the inaugural article, I have decided to release it on Friday as a little celebration and as a way to kickoff the weekend right, by reading about the greatest position in all of sports. This will be a new weekly article in which I will be writing all about a past college quarterback who wowed us, was a complete and absolute bust, or just flowed through the motions. I will talk about how they did in college, accomplishments, drama caused, and breakdowns of the best plays that they have made. I will be writing this just about every Wednesday, so if you have any suggestions for a QB, feel free to leave a comment and state the QB’s name, college, and years they played. Without further to do, I present TBTQB: Johnny Manziel
Johnny “Football” Manziel
Overview:
We are starting this series of articles off with, in my opinion, one of the most beloved, hated, and all around mo
st exciting quarterbacks to play at the college level. Johnny Football. Now, I know that he had an absolutely horrible professional career on the Cleveland Browns, but it is #COMEBACKSZN for Johnny and I’m all in on it. As a Texas A&M fan,
watching him grace my television every Saturday was like watching football poetry in motion. He took the SEC by storm, using his rocket of a right arm and the V8 engine he had as legs to make the competition look like a middle school flag football team. Now Johnny wasn’t any normal quarterback, he loved to party and live everyday as if it was his last. He partied like he played football: he would do whatever he wanted to do and no body could stop him. (Well, I mean, he did get arrested for domestic violence but the chargers were later dropped…but we will get to that later.)
High School/Recruitment
Now, Johnny wasn’t the tallest to ever grace the QB position, standing at just above 5’11, but this didn’t stop him. However, his freshman and sophomore years of high school, he played as a slot receiver and didn’t play any snaps as a quarterback until later into his sophomore season. It wasn’t until the first game of his junior year that he started at QB for Tivy High School, located Kerrville, Texas. He finished that season with 2,903 yards through the air, 1544 yards on the ground, 152 receiving yards (In garbage time, he would go back to his “roots” at slot receiver) and 55 touchdowns combined. All of this helped him take home the honors of All-San Antonio Offensive Player of the Year and helped get him onto the recruitment radar. He had been looked at by Wyoming, Tulsa, and Louisiana Tech, but had no offers.
Going into his senior year, he was given a 3-Star Ranking and the 374th national rank of recruits for the 2011 class. He went into his senior year with no offers and obviously had a chip on his shoulder. During Manziel’s senior season, he compiled 228-of-347 (65.7%) passing for 3,609 yards with 45 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also had 170 carries for 1,674 yards and 30 touchdowns. He had one touchdown reception and returned a kickoff for a touchdown for a combined 77 touchdowns. These amazing stats helped him earn Mr. Texas Football for 2010 and more importantly, earn some offers.
Following his senior year, Manziel had offers from these colleges: Texas A&M, Oregon, Baylor, Colorado State, Iowa State, Louisiana State, Rice, Stanford, Tulsa, and Wyoming. A larger list of teams had offered him chances to walk-on, but were skeptical to offer a scholarship due to his height and dangerous style of play. Johnny only took one visit out of all of those teams, Texas A&M, and shortly after committed to the Aggies in College Station.
Redshirt Freshman Year/ 2012 Season:
Johnny was a Aggie, and for the 2011 season he was red-shirted. He would be learning behind Ryan Tannehill, the WR turned QB who would be taken in the first round of the draft that year by the Miami Dolphins. He also would be coached that season by Mike Sherman, who would be fired and replaced by Kevin Sumlin the next year. He would travel with the team and learn behind the upper classmen and get prepared for the 2012 Season.
Entering the 2012 season, A&M would be starting with a clean slate. New head coach Kevin Sumlin announced an open QB Competition between Jameill Shower, Matt Joeckel, and Johnny Manziel. The competition went through spring ball and was finally settled in the fall, with redshirt freshman Johnny Manziel being named starter. Little did the nation know that from then on, Texas A&M wouldn’t be the same. He debuted in a home game against the Florida Gators.
Oh and also, it was Texas A&M’s first game as a member of the SEC. They were playing the winners of two of the last six BCS Championships…
The rest is history…
Johnny Mania was born. He began the season fairly quiet, but after a game against Arkansas, he introduced himself to the world. He broke the 43 year-old total offense school record by producing 557 total yards. Amazing right? Well he broke that record again two week later by reaching 576 yards against #24 Louisiana Tech. After breaking the record for being the first SEC player to reach 500 total yards in 2 games in a season, Johnny Football broke out onto the Heisman scene.
As a Texas A&M Fan, the one game I despise every year is against the Crimson Tide. The main powerhouse of college football for most of the 21st century, they fight tooth to limb in every football game, and it was Johnny’s time to face the noise in Tuscaloosa. Alabama was ranked #1 at the time and the Aggies were seen as underdogs.
The Texas A&M Aggies took down the Crimson Tide behind Johnny Manziel’s 345 yards and 2 TD’s. This game is seen as the main reason he was propelled into being the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy. He made one of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen a QB make in a football game and I believe it was the play that showed the nation why he was one of the best.
Johnny was swallowed up by a pass rush, juggled the ball and somehow someway got a grasp on the ball, rolled out of the pocket to the left, threw across his body and delivered a strike to the WR in the end zone.
Manziel finished the season with the Aggies being at 11-2, a #5 BCS ranking, and earning a win against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, 41-13. Manziel broke the SEC record for most yards in a season, earning 4600 yards and becoming the 5th player in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000. He reached this achievement two games before the end of the season. Johnny had one of the most successful freshman seasons in NCAA history, and because of this, he was a heavy favorite to win the Heisman.
Manziel beat out Manti Te’o and Colin Klein becoming the first Freshman to ever win the Heisman and putting an exclamation mark on a historical season.
2013 Season:
After one of the most successful seasons in Texas A&M history, the Aggies started out the season ranked #6. However, the drama of Johnny Manziel begun. The NCAA suspended him for the first half of the opening game for signing autographs for money, which is against NCAA rules. Many people believed this was the beginning of his sophomore slump, but the people were wrong.
After suffering Losses against Alabama, LSU, Auburn, and Missouri, A&M ended the season 9-4 with a #18 ranking and a win in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl against Duke, 52-48. Another famous Manziel play came from two of these games, this one in the loss against Alabama and another against Duke:
Manziel pumped towards his first read, but then pulled the ball back and was met by a Alabama player, who grabbed hold of him. Manziel somehow spins out of a sack, and continues to drop back another 15 yards on the 3rd and 8 and threw the ball up, just hoping for a miracle. Well the ball travels 50 yards through the air, and ends up in the hands of a Texas A&M WR, surrounded by Alabama defensive players.
In the bowl game against Duke, Johnny dropped back for a pass, decided to tuck it and run, and got caught up at the line. It should be a sack, right? Well, good ole’ Johnny Football had other plans and decided to somehow escape being swallowed up at the line and instead rolled out to the left, floating a ball to his WR who ran it in for a TD.
Johnny ended the 2013 season throwing for 4,114 yards and 37 TDs in the air with 13 INTs, and followed it up with 800 yards on the ground with nine TDs. Manziel was voted 5th in the Heisman voting behind Jameis Winston, A.J McCarron, Jordan Lynch, and Andre Williams. Following his bowl game, Johnny announced that he would be entering the 2014 NFL Draft.
Pro Career:
Johnny Football had chosen to enter the draft and was being seen as one of the most exciting, yet risky, prospects in recent years. He was seen as a prototype QB and would need development to become a NFL caliber QB, but he didn’t let this stop him. He had a Pro Day and the NFL Combine to help improve his draft stock and show NFL coaches and GM’s that the was the real deal.
His pro day was not a typical one for one reason: he made the decision to wear a helmet and shoulder pads during his pro day to help shake off rumors of him not being able to complete the NFL throws required. Another reason his pro day was seen as an interesting one was the concept of throws that he was making. Johnny was in an Air-Raid offense at Texas A&M, which is seen as a negative in the NFL due to the offensive scheme’s “throw it as far as you can” mentality. Manziel showed off on RPOs (Run/Pass Options), screens, short and intermediate throws, as well as his long ball.
At the NFL Combine, Johnny had decent numbers for the drills ran and passed all of the interviews that were given to him. He had decided not to throw at the combine for an undisclosed reason, but it was seen as he had a great pro day and didn’t want to have a chance at bring his draft stock lower at the combine.
At the NFL Draft, Johnny was taken 22nd overall by the Cleveland Browns after sending an undisclosed text at the time to then-quarterback coach of the Browns Dowell Loggains. The text had said he wanted to “Wreck this league” and the Browns had traded up to get him.
Manziel went through rookie camps and training camp with no noise and was being rumored to be the 2nd string QB for that season. The first big news we had on Johnny in the NFL wasn’t a good start. Johnny was in the middle of a preseason game against the Washington Redskins, and after being ran out-of-bounds on the Redskins’ sideline, he was seen on camera jogging back and giving a hand gesture (flipping the bird) towards the sideline. He would be fined for this and not long after, the Browns made the announcement that Brian Hoyer would be starting over Johnny Manziel.
He wouldn’t get a chance to start until Week 15 of the 2014 season, but he sustained a hamstring injury and would play for the rest of the season. The next season, he wouldn’t get a chance to play until a week 4 game in which then starter Josh McCown was injured. It was announced after that game he would be the starter for the rest of the season. This was short-lived, however, due to a video of him that had come out of Johnny partying during the bye week and he was booted all the way down to 3rd string. He played in two more games, only earning one win over the San Francisco 49ers, but had to sit out the last game of the season with a concussion. He did not show up to the Browns’ facility for a check up exam after the season had ended for the Browns, and would be released two months later.
He is currently attempting a comeback to professional football after a two year hiatus partying, in rehab, and starting up a clothing brand. He was rumored to have a contract offer from a Canadian Football League team and has until January 31st to accept or deny it.
Johnny Manziel will go down as one of the most exciting and interesting QB’s to ever grace the field in college football. His legacy and iffy decisions will come to define him for decades to come, and we will be able to tell out kids about the stories of when Johnny Football played in Canada or when he “Couldn’t hear anybody because he has too much ******* Money”. Thank you for making Saturdays a treat to watch Johnny, and making this Texas A&M fan a happy man for two years. Gig’em Johnny Football.
