[Long read] The trouble with Johnny: Johnny Manziel can't escape the pull of his celebrity, and it could derail his career
Before reading this, my outlook for Manziel was already very negative. Condolences to families of the 3 killed in the car crash. Awful.
ATM isn't doing a very good job of protecting him. Texas had Vince, Colt, and Ricky and did a better job of making sure they didn't get into much trouble.
None of those players lived in the twitter world that we live in currently. Furthermore, Johnny brings most of this on himself with his lifestyle choices. I am not sure what A&M is supposed to do to "protect" him.
Like I mentioned in a previous post, I think allowing him to be express himself and continuously remain in the spotlight is going to help recruiting. TAMU has unchained the guy. They're gonna sell that to recruits. Watch. Texas A&M, a place where you can be yourself, express yourself, hangout with Lebron James, date sexy women and take online classes from your bedroom while interacting with the sports media online. Stay away from mean old grumpy Saban, no wifi OU and senile old Mack Brown. Maybe this is too strong of a statement but I really am starting to believe TAMU is revolutionizing football recruiting right before our eyes and it's kind of flying under the radar. If TAMU wanted to shut the guy up he'd be shut up. They aren't protecting him, they're milking him and it's genius.
That might be a good angle for the kid but the parents might not like it. Doesn't seem like jff's dad is too happy with the aggies Other schools will sell turning your son into a mature man on his way to the nfl. That's what mama wants to hear Either way, this season needs to get here quick for the manziels
Set rules for him to follow and protect him from the media. Manziel is just like any other immature 20 year old small town kid. He just happens to be growing up in front of everyone. Everyone wants a piece of him, and he doesn't know how to handle it. This is where people like Mack Brown, Saban, or Stoops, who know how to deal with the media and pressure, would step in and mentor and protect him. His dad means well but he doesn't know how to deal with crap either. It's sad that Drake has to be the one mentoring him on this stuff.
Agreed. But In basketball recruiting you don't pander to mom and dad so much. Those kids are coddled by AAU coaches and pampered at an early age. John Calapari isn't selling manhood to those kids, he's selling fun, he's selling a pro career, he's selling playing with the best. Mom and dad aren't the factors they once were. And regardless of that, what TAMU is doing would still be considered a differentiator. If I was Johnny or his dad I'd be mad at the system, not TAMU. TAMU should be paying him several millions instead of the slave labor setup the NCAA has now. But at the end of the day TAMU was the school that offered to let him play QB, TAMU was the school that gave him a 2nd chance, TAMU was the school with the balls to play the guy as a freshman the first day in the SEC. TAMU owes Manziel millions and Manziel owes TAMU his career. How mad can you be?
Manziel would have been a stud at any school. He would have had to sit out last year and played somewhere else this year. However, his career might have ended better in the long run.
UT wasn't even willing to let him play QB or bother calling him. He would have spent his time practicing with the DB's, not developing under Klingsbury and his pee-pee, pew-pew offense. I'm not saying TAMU was the only place on earth he could have had success but yeah, I'll say it, I think it's the only place he wins Heisman last year.
He was recruited by Oregon and Baylor also. Watching RGIII one year would have done wonders for his character and leadership skills.
Ziggy you've posted alot of absolute gems in this thread.... Umm wow lololol. Not all press is good press, especially now that his own dad is calling out his son for not only his lack of maturity but a failure in atm's coaches to help his son grow up. The parents are obviously also to blame in this but if you dont think other coaches aren't gonna negative recruit the hell out of atm with this kind of ammo, I dont know what to tell you. Calipari is a well known sleaze ball and is a perfect example of whats wrong in highschool,aau, and college basketball. First of all, he was a RS freshmen so he had a year under his belt. Also, who the hell else was there on that depth chart that couldve played? But saying that Manziel owes them his career is a bit much. If this guy is as good as every atm fan says he is, he wouldve been good anywhere. Whats really gotta be urking the people of CS is how obvious it is that he simply doesnt like being there.
A rich history of being progressive It is funny how the role model of aggie future recruiting doesn't even want to be there. Good luck with that
I don't think any of that's on A&M. Frankly, the Manziel family makes it sound like they're adversarial the university. It's ridiculous.
I recognize you're different from most alumni at TAMU. But the alumni that holds the purse strings for A&M will not support that. They're not going to change the culture of the university for Football Johnny and his ilk. They're just not. Too much history...too much old blood mixed with very, very green dollar bills.
