Hoover, Ala.– It’s funny how things can change in an instant for people.
I remember a few years back when my good friend Taylor Hicks told me he was going to try out for American Idol at his apartment on a crystal clear afternoon in Birmingham, Ala.
As I recall that day, I mentioned to Taylor that I thought he’d win the competition. We both kind of laughed about it. But I knew his musical talent, and I knew he had the drive and passion to finally see a lifelong dream come to fruition. As it turned out it did. And the rest is history.
Two years ago, not many folks outside the Lone Star State had never heard of Johnny Manziel. Despite posting impressive numbers as a prep star in San Antonio, Manziel was only a three-star recruit (according to Rivals.com) in the Aggies 2011 signing class.
Now whether those ranking Manziel were blind or just plain foolish is still left up for debate, but no one could possibly have imagined that he’d be the most dominant offensive skill player in the land a year ago following a redshirt season in College Station. But he was. And that’s why he’s the most talked about college football player on the planet right now.
“The spotlight is 10 times brighter and 10 times hotter than I thought it was two months ago,” Manziel said at SEC Media Days Wednesday. “I guess I feel like Justin Bieber or something. I never thought it would really be that way.”
In Manziel’s remarkable freshman campaign, he became the first SEC player ever to account for 5,000 yards of total offense. He even led the league in rushing. Now think about that aforementioned sentence for a minute.
Manziel became the FIRST EVER PLAYER IN SEC HISTORY to account for 5,000 yards of offense (3,706 passing, 26 TDs; 1,410 rushing, 21 TDs). That’s more than the all-time SEC greats like Eric Zeier, Peyton and Eli Manning, Tim Couch, Matthew Stafford, Tim Tebow and Cam Newton, all terrific quarterbacks who etched their names into conference lore with their play on the field.
But despite his special talent as a player, Manziel has been under the microscope (albeit a large one) of the national media for his recent behavior. His outlandish Tweets about leaving College Station became the center of attention at the beginning of the summer. And when it became known Johnny Football wanted to take online classes to avoid fellow students in the spring, all hell broke loose on that front.
Over the weekend, Manziel received more media heat when left the Manning Passing Academy (put on by Archie, Eli and Peyton) early after showing up late for, and missing, assignments as a counselor. Rumors were abound the Manziel and current Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron were hanging out a bar near Nichols State University (Louisiana) and alcohol was involved due to him missing a morning meeting. But Manziel denied that was the case in an interview with ESPN Wednesday by simply saying he overslept. Manziel then apologized for the incident on national television.
“There’s no excuse for it. Absolutely my fault,” Manziel said.
So what do we make out of all this erratic behavior from Manziel?
I tell ya what, give the guy a break. Hardly anyone in America knew who he was at this time last year, and now he’s a 20-year-old coping with an enormous amount of fame, which is a whole different ball of wax for those of us who have never experienced it.
Is he going to make mistakes? Yes. Is he going to be a kid? Yes. But he could be doing a lot worse than posting a negative comment on Twitter, taking online classes or missing a meeting at a passing camp for a guy just a couple of years removed from high school. In fact, he could be doing a whole lot worse.
So get off the Johnny Football ledge and let’s see how things play out moving forward. If he and his Texas A&M teammates fall flat on their faces after the year they had a season ago due to all the offseason turmoil, then they will feel the pain of that more than anyone. And rest assured, he will too.
But for now let’s just remember that Manziel is still a spring chicken rather than a washed up has-been. And let’s hope that the fame he has garnered by being a great football player won’t lead to his demise. That happens too often with immensely gifted people, and I don’t want to see that happen to a remarkable signal-caller who happens to be one of the best football player’s I’ve ever seen.