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Johnny Manziel
Feb. 26th, 2014 09:51 pmI've never claimed to be even close to an expert of football. In fact, I'm only a few seasons into it, so I'm still learning, and I'm coming from the perspective of a person looking in from the outside. Keep that in mind.
I don't have a problem with bluster - as long as the mouth is backed up with skill. And maybe Johnny Manziel does have the moves to back up some of his comments. I don't follow college football, so I don't know. And since he chose to show his skills at his own pro day later in March instead of the Combine, I still don't know what kind of skills he has.
He was born and bred in Texas, and let's face it - there's probably no state as passionate about football as Texas. Even I knew that years before I decided to fall in love with the game ("Friday Night Lights", "Varsity Blues"). In fact, I think a football is placed in the bassinet of each baby boy in the hospital. He attended Texas A&M, so more than likely, he's been all football all the time. I don't have any strong feelings about that as long as he's happy with it, although I do worry about anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to see what choices exist out there in the world.
One thing that worries me is that he left college in his junior year to go pro. I understand that this is done quite a bit, and football players have a limited number of prime years. However, what is going to happen to him when he retires? What happens if, heaven forbid, he gets hurt or doesn't make the grade? I guess he could return to college for his final year, but let's face it, he's probably going to either have to move to another state or end up living in Texas bitter and feeling like a failure.
And then there's the fact that he has his OWN pro day, separate from Texas A&M's pro day. Is that because he's leaving before he graduates or because he's just all that and wants to have his own pro day? He seems to be the only person with his own pro day. It just smells of a heightened sense of entitlement or something. Or maybe this is more common than it seems. They didn't seem to make a special point about it on "NFL Live".
He's been talking big, but he's young. He's used to being a big cheese. He started out as a receiver in high school but sophomore year started sharing quarterback duties, starting as QB junior year. He did some good stuff in college, and again, he was a quarterback. So, Texas, quarterback, big fish in a couple of small ponds (relatively speaking - after all, high school and college football in Texas is probably as close to the NFL experience as an amateur can get). He's gonna strut into that locker room for whatever team takes him, and he's probably gonna have some rough times. If he can back up his claims, he should be okay. But because of his mouth, he's not going to be given a lot of time to figure it out.
I wish him luck and good health, and I'll be watching.
I just don't want him in Green Bay, but it's okay, because it's obvious that Green Bay isn't the kind of situation he wants either.
I don't have a problem with bluster - as long as the mouth is backed up with skill. And maybe Johnny Manziel does have the moves to back up some of his comments. I don't follow college football, so I don't know. And since he chose to show his skills at his own pro day later in March instead of the Combine, I still don't know what kind of skills he has.
He was born and bred in Texas, and let's face it - there's probably no state as passionate about football as Texas. Even I knew that years before I decided to fall in love with the game ("Friday Night Lights", "Varsity Blues"). In fact, I think a football is placed in the bassinet of each baby boy in the hospital. He attended Texas A&M, so more than likely, he's been all football all the time. I don't have any strong feelings about that as long as he's happy with it, although I do worry about anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to see what choices exist out there in the world.
One thing that worries me is that he left college in his junior year to go pro. I understand that this is done quite a bit, and football players have a limited number of prime years. However, what is going to happen to him when he retires? What happens if, heaven forbid, he gets hurt or doesn't make the grade? I guess he could return to college for his final year, but let's face it, he's probably going to either have to move to another state or end up living in Texas bitter and feeling like a failure.
And then there's the fact that he has his OWN pro day, separate from Texas A&M's pro day. Is that because he's leaving before he graduates or because he's just all that and wants to have his own pro day? He seems to be the only person with his own pro day. It just smells of a heightened sense of entitlement or something. Or maybe this is more common than it seems. They didn't seem to make a special point about it on "NFL Live".
He's been talking big, but he's young. He's used to being a big cheese. He started out as a receiver in high school but sophomore year started sharing quarterback duties, starting as QB junior year. He did some good stuff in college, and again, he was a quarterback. So, Texas, quarterback, big fish in a couple of small ponds (relatively speaking - after all, high school and college football in Texas is probably as close to the NFL experience as an amateur can get). He's gonna strut into that locker room for whatever team takes him, and he's probably gonna have some rough times. If he can back up his claims, he should be okay. But because of his mouth, he's not going to be given a lot of time to figure it out.
I wish him luck and good health, and I'll be watching.
I just don't want him in Green Bay, but it's okay, because it's obvious that Green Bay isn't the kind of situation he wants either.
