A&M came out in March and said that Johnny had never knowingly provided an autograph to anybody who expressed a plan to sell it. March would be two full months after the alleged signings. So, A&M did back him up similarly to what SC did for Clowney.
Sumlin said the first time he heard of the allegations were the night ESPN broke the story. So either Sumlin's lying, or A&M didn't know about it either. A&M would have discussed this with Sumlin obviously. And if Sumlin's lying.. That's not a good sign. Either way, with the numerous accusations coming out now, A&M/Manziel should have commented ONCE when the allegations broke. I'm assuming A&M's legal team is doing their own investigation and will make a decision based upon that. Also looked at some random items on eBay and wanted to check the ranges on JSA/PSA. Keep in mind this is a very small sample size and doesn't include the 999+268 that was mentioned previously. And these were just active listings, doesn't include completed listings, and if this started in January..There's obviously way more. PSA U30370-U30506= Manziel= 136 R82236-R82499= Manziel= 263 R77790-R77999= Manziel= 209 R57305-R57365= Manziel= 60 R86754-R86849= Manziel= 95 ^763 JSA H86245-H86696= Manziel= 451 X55515-X55609= Manziel= 94 ^545 These are just small sample sizes. Some of these letter sequences have over 100k autographs so you can bet there are a few k manziel autographs out there. This was the same thing they were doing on TexAgs but it was a much larger scale and they found many other athletes, but the thread got moved/deleted.
While I don't think JFF will have a repeat of last year, I can't really see them going 8-4.. Looking at their schedule, only teams with a shot of beating them IMO is Bama, LSU, Ole Miss (that's a stretch)..And I would think they could win at least one of those games. A&M should roll on everyone else fairly easily. Even if Manziel was to get suspended, 8-4 should still be pretty easy as they have talent at other positions.
That may have been the first time Sumlin heard of allegations of money for autographs. However, Chuck Carlton of the Dallad Morning News wrote on August 4, 2013 that A&M compliance director David Batson told him in March 6, 2013 that Manziel was not aware of anybody placing his autographs for sale.
Surprised no one here has picked up on this story. It appears that Dez Bryant decided to take a break from having the Cowsheep fans line up and kiss his a$$ to offer his POV on Johnny Football: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-cowboys/headlines/20130813-cowboys-dez-bryant-blasts-ncaa-would-be-mad-if-texas-am-s-johnny-manziel-not-punished.ece Cowboys' Dez Bryant blasts NCAA, would be mad if Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel not punished Patric Schneider/AP SportsDayDFW.com Published: 13 August 2013 10:41 PM Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant would be mad if Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel is not suspended, should it be proven that he accepted money for autograph signings. "Hell yeah, I’ll be mad," Bryant told reporters, according to the Star-Telegram. "I will be mad. But I don’t want him to get suspended. I will be mad more at the NCAA on how they do things. I just feel like it’s not fair. This is something I have no problem talking about because I feel like somebody needs to say something to him and let it be known how they treat people is not right." But Bryant also believes players, like Manziel, should be able to sell autographs without penalty. "Yes. He should be able to," Bryant said. "He should be able to sign as many autographs and make as much money as he wants, because it’s his name. I feel like he’s the one who created it. He should be able to do whatever he feels as long as it’s legal and I don’t think there’s anything illegal about signing a picture of yourself and making money off himself. Shoot, the NCAA is making money off of it when they’re selling those No. 2 shirts. Why can’t he make a little bit of money off of it?" Bryant was asked if college players should be paid. "I feel like they should," Bryant said. "I feel like players in the NCAA should. Those fans are coming out to watch them and support them. When they’re in college, it’s different. You don’t get paid like the NFL get paid. I think what would be OK would be to have just a little bit of money in your pocket. It’s hard in college. You’ve got to get a job (in the off-season) if you can. You’ve got to practice. It’s just hard. Sometimes the training table is just not good enough." Bryant added, “I don’t want anything to happen to Manziel, I promise. I don’t want anything. I just want (the NCAA) to know what (it's) doing is not right. That’s all they need to know and they need to understand that. Seriously. They really do." The topic hits close to home for Bryant. The former Oklahoma State standout was suspended by the NCAA for the remainder of the 2009 season for lying to investigators about having an illegal contact with a former NFL player (Deion Sanders). The NCAA had learned of a meeting between him and Sanders, which didn’t turn out to be a violation. But during an investigation, Bryant lied about the visit, violating an NCAA bylaw that addresses ethical conduct. About the incident at Oklahoma State, Bryant said: "I did lie. I came back. I told the truth and they suspended me indefinitely. The way the guy was talking to me was like I did something wrong. I didn’t know it was OK for me to go to someone’s house. … So I got scared and I lied. I feel like if anybody else was in my position they probably would have done the same.” My reaction: Wah, wah, wah. Bryant needs to STFU and go learn the playbook. After all, it's been what? 4 years?
And DeVier Posey: Texans WR DeVier Posey on Johnny Manziel: "I know what he's going thru. I know the witch-hunting that goes on at the NCAA. How those meetings go. How mentally stressful they are. How hard it is to focus on football. I just feel his pain. Whatever he did people have to remember the way ESPN & you guys report it, it's not a crime. He's still a good kid and he just loves football and he wants to eventually make it to this level and people have to remember that."
"ESPN’s focus on Manziel indicates either a surprising lack of effort by their investigative journalists, or a bias against Manziel and Texas A&M." Cut the **** Aggies. ****ing cut it. You know why there is more of a focus on him? BECAUSE HE IS THE GOD DAMN HEISMAN. Because the entire college football world (AND ESPN) spent months celebrating him and sucking his dick. Johnny football! Johnny football! I didn't care because he deserved it. LIKEWISE he deserves the negative attention for clearly breaking rules. None of you were accusing ESPN of giving him to much attention after the cotton bowl or the Heisman ceremony. They even covered the fact he had a god damn billboard on time square. Why the hell was he news then but not news now? Would ANY of you be saying the same if it was VY, Robert Griffen or anyone else besides the Aggies. I'm sorry but dealing with the bull**** about Book Em Horns or everything else that gets criticized with the longhorns (JUSTLY) I can't take this whining. If you can't take the negative attention when you have stupid ****ing players then beg the country to going back to not caring about your program. ****ing r****ded.
No, what would be ****ing r****ded would be to investigate one player for a rule violation and not the others who apparently violated the same rule. Selective enforcement is part of what has made the NCAA the joke that it is today. It is also the reason that they will soon lose the five major conferences.
Kirk Herbstreit lays it out nicely.(From August 6) Gonna blame the big bad media for picking on Johnny Football? No, I'm not doing that. Why are you coming at me like that? What are you talking about? You tend to be a little nicer than me. I think you guys, prior to what's happened, by the way at this point, I'm one of those guys that kinda sits back and waits until the evidence comes in. At this point, it's alleged, as far as everything I have read. I'm not sitting here defending Johnny Manziel but to put a timeline up that he pushed a graduate assistant in June, he had a negative tweet about Texas A&M in July, these are just big stories! Are you kidding me? What's the big deal? Some of these stories, I've just sat back and laughed at because I don't think they're stories. This is a big, big issue and whether it's true or not, we'll have to wait and see but I'm not one of these guys "I TOLD YOU THIS GUY IS A BAD GUY!" I'm not that guy. I'll wait to find out what they'll be able to find that's true and we'll go from there. You were probably a coddled athlete as well so I can understand you. Herbstreit: (Laughing) He sounds spoiled, does he not? What do you mean by spoiled? He's a guy that's enjoying himself the way you would've or I would've or anybody else would've that had a dad that had a little bit of money and allowed me to do some things. He was doing a lot of these things before he won the Heisman trophy. Only difference is once you win the Heisman trophy and because of the style of play in which he plays, there are lot of people that are big fans of his. That's the thing that has really surprised him. He's gotten around and access to some of these places and he's found out these people are as big fans of his as he is of theirs. He doesn't come across to me as a spoiled kid at all. He's a guy that has taken advantage of some opportunities because of winning a Heisman trophy but who are we to sit here and say he shouldn't do that? I have no problem with anything he has done with the exception of if he ended up signing a bunch of autographs and getting paid for it. That's something, he broken a rule and made a very stupid decision and if that ends up being true, then he should have to pay for it but the rest of it, go do it. Go have fun. You'd be a great coach. How would you be a coach? The way you're sounding, what about discipline? What's he doing wrong? It's in the off-season. He's going to a Heat game sitting court side, what's wrong with that? Other than people being jealous, what's wrong with it? I can't wait to leave this place tweet. Come on, you're QB of the decade here. Herbstreit: (Laughing) Who cares if he tweeted that? People can get fired for tweeting stuff these days. Herbstreit: (Laughing again) Listen to you. What, do you give your kids ice cream for breakfast everyday? Boy, you are cupcake city. No, no, no. My kids live with a drill sergeant. It's not easy. Good thing you didn't get into coaching. The NCAA would be breathing down your program's neck. (Laughing) Man, I cant believe you're part of this. I cant believe you're part of making a big deal out of all these stories. He took a picture of himself at a party, what's going on?! This is crazy! I mean, are you kidding me? He's living his life. Also right when he says “either the most far-fetched story I’ve ever heard of, or he’s the dumbest player to ever play college football”.
Quite the objective journalist.... Last Word on Sports is pleased to welcome Michael Taglienti as a new writer to the LWOS team. A texas resident and Texas A&M and Dallas Cowboys fan, Mike will be providing excellent and analytical commentary on college basketball, college football and the NFL. Got to love howAggies whine forever about not getting media attention, finally get it, screw the pooch and now whine about too much attention.
Except there's no evidence that the NCAA ignored or is ignoring those cases. They haven't commented on any of these, Manziel included. The reason Manziel is a story is that we have photos and videos and people talking to ESPN about it. That doesn't appear to be the case with any of the others. I'm sure if some autograph dude came out and said he paid Clowney a bunch of money to sign stuff, ESPN would happily cover it. But as of right now, all the public evidence is stuff related to Manziel. None of the conferences are breaking away - they get too much out of being associated with the NCAA. They'll whine and threaten in the hopes of changing the rules, but they aren't leaving. They have it too good with their current setup.
It's not about who they chose to cover, not for me anyways, it's about how weak their sources are and that they're basically manufacturing a story like they did when Dwight was "50/50". It's nothing new which is why I said that story is much bigger than Manziel.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TAMU&src=hash">#TAMU</a> LB commit Hoza Scott is no longer part of the La Porte football program.</p>— Mark Passwaters (@themarkup) <a href="https://twitter.com/themarkup/statuses/367805108542644224">August 15, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> So what are his options now? Either another HS or get GED and go juco?
Gabe Bock said this is exactly what happened last year. He missed two games and was back on the field. As talented as he is, if he can't get his head screwed on right, Sumlin may need to sever ties with him.
I didnt post this article because it was written by a Texas A&M fan, I posted it because it pulls together a number of sources and findings on the entire story. 90% of sports fans just take ESPN's word as law and these people are no better than the low information voters that vote for politicians. Do some real investigation and consider the sources where the information is coming from. Thats all the article asks of ESPN. While the article does offer opinion, it also simply links other articles which put holes in the ESPN agenda (if it exists).
This is as big a story as USC, Ohio St and Cam Newton were. And if you don't believe that than you must not think very much of the Aggies place in the National Championship picture. For a team that beat Alabama last year and has the youngest Heisman ever, A&M has more momentum than any other team in college football. THe idea that they could lose their once in a generation player for a couple games or a year is a big deal. Any new developments (like the suggestion that multiple signings took place) is reportable. Comparing scandals like this to free agent signings seems silly. You are basically questioning ESPN's decision to post anything about anything that has not already been settled. There would be no reason for them to post about possible steroids or the Penn St bull**** before it was all set in stone. They have never reported that money changed hands. They reported that a booker claims that Manziel agreed to it and that he had video evidence. That is the exact same thing of reporting of the guys who implicated athletes about steroids before their was concrete proof. The regular news does the exact same thing. There is also the volume of signed merc that suggests that a signing session took place. I'm not saying that where there is smoke, there's fire. I'm just saying there is a lot of smoke and it pisses me off thinking about all the bull**** that Longhorn fans have taken from you guys and how much bull**** we would be taking if this was VY we were taking about. This IS a story. I also find it interesting that you (I believe) said that you think Manziel is guilty. You just don't think there is enough evidence to warrant a suspension. Maybe I'm not remembering that right. If this was A&M of the decade before before last year then I would agree with you about the dumb amount of attention. The program didn't matter enough for this to be a big deal. BUT even as a longhorn fan I recognize what you did to put yourself in the forefront of national attention. That is a double edged sword.
