Texas A & M’s sophomore Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Johnny Manziel can’t seem to maintain a low profile.
Manziel, who was suspended by the NCAA for the first half of the Aggies’ home opener against Rice after committing an inadvertent NCAA violation for signing autographs, put his signature all over a 52-31 victory when he threw three touchdowns in the second half of the route at College Station.
He had typical moments of brilliance, but he also had moments of immaturity with some foolish “Look at me:” decisions. Specifically, Manziel constantly got in the face of Rice players and was eventually penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after a highlight film nine-yard TD pass to Mike Evans with 9:48 left in the fourth quarter. He talked trash to two Rice defensive players after the play and pointed to the scoreboard. When he didn’t stop, officials decided they had muzzle the noise being made by this gifted player, who apparently thinks he is Teflon on this campus after personally accounting for an economic impact worth close to $37 million dollars for A & M last year during a magical 11-2 season.
A & M coach Kevin Sumlin finally, finally decided he had enough, too. He replaced Manziel with Matt Joeckel for A & M’s final possessions.,
“That wasn’t very smart. That’s why he didn’t go back in the game either,” an agitated Sumlin told the media afterwards. “You would hope at this point, you’d learn something from that. We’re still working on that. He wasn’t going back in the game no matter what was happening.”
Earlier, Manziel, irritated when the Rice defense taunted him about his suspension for signing autographs, walked back to the huddle after an eight year scramble in the third quarter, miming a signing motion. Then, on the next play, after he found Evans on a 23-yard slant pattern for a touchdown, he walked down the field while rubbing his thumb and forefingers together in a “Show me the money’ gesture.
Sumlin was asked after the game if he had seen the 20-year old Manziel miming his signature.
“Nope,” he said. “If I’d seen that, I’d have done something about it.”
Sumlin went on to say that he’ll watch the play on film, “And if that did happen, I will address that.”
Somebody has to.
Johnny Football looked out of control. He needs to be tone down his act. Given everything he has gone through during a tumultuous past couple weeks, Manziel should have had enough common sense to show some humility when the game was clearly over. But instead, he acted like an immature 20-year old celebrity wannabe by attempting to publicly humiliating an out manned opponent. Manziel has enough individual talent to lead the seventh-ranked Aggies to an SEC title– maybe even a national title. But he is also combustible to blow up their season. His immature actions against Rice could eventually hurt his team by creating needless distractions this close to a Sept. 14 SEC showdown against top-ranked Alabama. They have likely already hurt his NFL draft status.
The NCAA has demonstrated it has no ability to discipline Manziel, who, according to an ESPN “Outside the Lines” story reportedly received money for signing over 4,000 items for memorabilia brokers last January. But investigators could never uncover a paper trail and the NCAA has no subpoena power with autograph brokers, who were not talking to them after apparently tipping off ESPN about the story. All the NCAA had was Manziel’s word he did not take any money. It likely did not help the NCAA’s case when Texas A & M chancellor John Sharp completely backed his star, saying he knew Manziel was innocent of all charges.
Sumlin seems to be the only one left with a hammer, the one guy who could control Manziel’s destiny by controlling his playing time.
Hopefully, the message he sent by benching Manziel made an impression on the kid.
We’re not so sure. On Friday, Manziel addressed the team and told them what he had learned his roller coaster offseason.
“The gist of his message to the team,” Sumlin said, “[was] that everyone’s individual actions affect the football team.”
Sumlin was asked if Manziel had learned a lesson from his run-in with the NCAA that threatened his eligibility and could have blown a huge hole in this team.
“I hope he learned that those actions may be actions that just hurt you, but they end up hurting the whole football team,” Sumlin said.
A & M and Sumlin made a joint decision not to allow Manziel to talk to the media afterwards. It was probably a good idea.
Now is the time for some quiet reflection before Manziel goes from being a hero to a villain in the eyes of fans outside College Station and the media scrutiny becomes so intense it threatens to suffocate him and ruin his chances for a second Heisman Trophy.
We’ll know for sure when the Tide rolls in.
But don’t think this is the last time opposing teams will attempt to bring Manziel’s past if they think it will affect his play.
