Josh Katzowitz - Johnny Football: Johnny Manziels Road from the Texas Hill Country to the Top of College Football

Johnny Football

Johnny Manziels Road from the Texas Hill Country to the Top of College Football

Josh Katzowitz

Contents

T he two odds-on favorites for the Heisman approached the vaunted trophy as dozens of media members pointed their cameras at them and clicked. It was the day before the award presentation, and Johnny Manziel and Manti Teo were dressed informally, in their school fleeces and casual shoes.

Look straight ahead, barked Heisman coordinator Tim Henning, as Manziel and Teo plastered smiles to their faces and flashbulbs went off. Now, look to your left... OK, straight ahead again... Now, to your right... OK, guys, put one hand on the trophy... Now, straight ahead... OK, to your left...

After Henning was satisfied, Manzielthe Texas A&M redshirt freshman-turned-Johnny Footballpatiently stepped behind the trophy by himself. Look left... OK, straight ahead, Johnny... To your right... Put both hands on the trophy. Look left, OK...

Manziel and Teothe Notre Dame linebacker who helped vault the Fighting Irish to the nations No. 1 status and back into the countrys consciousnesshad shared a flight from Orlando, after one big awards show, to New York City, for college footballs biggest honor. Teo was the winner in central Floridapicking up the Bednarik Award, the Maxwell Trophy, and the Walter Camp National Player of the Year Awardbut they had become fast friends during the perennially exhausting media grind.

They didnt talk much about xs and os. Teo might have asked about playing the Alabama Crimson Tidewhom Manziel had beaten, turning the nations attention on him, and whom Teo would play for the national titleand Manziel, feeling a sense of Southeastern Conference loyalty, might have declined to give him any information. But mostly they chatted about the classic arcade game Galaga and playfully bet on which of them would be photographed more. Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein, the third Heisman finalist, had a scheduling conflict and wasnt available to share in the spotlight, but, in a stuffy, undersized ballroom on the fourth floor of the Marriott Marquis in Times Squareas reporters and video cameramen jockeyed for position to record the twothe genuine camaraderie between the frontrunners was evident.

But about 30 hours before the Heisman ceremony, Manziel entered that stuffy ballroom, dropped into his chair, and leaned back with a sarcastic groan. Im from a town of 20,000Im pretty sure there are 20,000 people out there in Times Square right now, he said, to give everyone some perspective. Yet despite the rapid-fire questions, he was as relaxed as his boat shoes would indicate.

Six weeks before, Michelle Manziel, Johnnys mom, and her son could enter a restaurant and share a meal together in anonymity. He could stroll home from Kyle Field after a football game, and nobody would bother him. Autograph seekers were rare, and photographers didnt fight for angles.

Now, countless members of the sports media were trying to capture some element of Manziels essence.

This national notoriety was new to Manzielwho had just turned 20 years old the day beforeand, at first, he tried to shy away from it. He isnt one to read about himself online or watch himself on TV. Rather than concern himself with extra-football hype, he utilizes his Netflix subscription heavily and loses himself in his video games.

First-season Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin helped Manziel maintain his privacy with a hard-and-fast rule that forbids his freshmen from speaking to the media. Despite Manziels epic performance in A&Ms victory over top-ranked Alabama in Alabama, and his slew of SEC records, the imperative held firm. The moment of Sumlins truth came after that Alabama upset, when one Aggies beat writer asked the schools PR staff whether the reporters were going to get to talk to Manziel in the post-game interviews. Just about everybody in the room laughed. The answer was no.

But in the weeks leading to this moment, Sumlins forced silence might have helped Manziel in the Heisman race. He was Johnny Football, with a mystique surrounding him.

People didnt really get a grip of who I was or whether I could handle all this, he said, while casually rocking in his chair. But Im OK with it. I enjoy it.

The floodgates suddenly cant support Sumlins strict ruleManziel is now more available to the publicbut hes getting used to the attention. Hes come to terms with having been photographed wearing a Scooby Doo costume on Halloween while dancing with scantily clad coeds and having it slapped all over the internetan image that, in the social media age, would mean nothing if Johnny Football werent the meat in the sandwich. He handles picture requests from fansas he picks up takeout food from Tony Romas in Bryan, Texaswith professional aplomb. That smile on his face as he lays both hands on the Heisman Trophy and turns his head every which wayits practically presidential.

To accommodate his new persona, though, hes had to enforce some changes in his life. When he worked with quarterback guru coach George Whitfield in the summer of 2012 to fix his technique, they talked about the adjustments that newly transformed superstars have to make. Guys like Cam Newton and Vince Young had to become homebodies. The circle of friends grows tighter. You think carefully about the people you love , and limit your interactions with those on the outside.

Im a small-town kid, Manziel had said a few weeks before coming to New York. I still look at myself that way. I dont see myself as Johnny Football. I see myself as Johnathan Manziel.

The giant glossy billboards that line Times Square, advertising Broadways best, showed through an opening in the ballrooms curtains, but, at that moment, Manziel might have been the biggest star in midtown Manhattan. And winning the Heisman Trophywhich, if the odds-makers had anything to say about it, had been decided after Manziel and A&Ms trouncing of Missouri in the regular season finalewould extend the media circus. But it would also fulfill one of his childhood dreams.

F our homes sit on a 50-yard stretch of asphalt off the main road of the country club complex in Bryan, Texas, where Michelle and Meri Manziel reside, but on this 60 degree evening in late November 2012, its not difficult to determine which house is theirs. A Texas A&M flag hangs proudly on the front, and the houses lights are blazing. Just like every home game weekend when the Aggies are playing at Kyle Field, Michelle and Meris house is open for business.

Michelle is running refreshments back and forth to a sorority function at Harleys For Men, the clothing store owned by her brother-in-law Harley Hooper, where Michelle peddles fashionable mens attire. Business has been booming since the A&M students discovered that Harley is related to Johnny Manziel.

Sixteen-year-old Meri is waiting to be squired to dinner by her boyfriend, Ty Malechek, whose grandfather owns the country club in which the Manziels live, and Johnnys father, Paul, who returns home on the weekends, is still spending his workweek in Longview, about 180 miles from Bryan.

The doorbell rings, and two barking west highland terriers, Scotty and Champion, race for the glass-paned entrance. The pair zealously climb over each other to investigate the visitor who has broken the peace. But Michelle is calm. Shes getting used to these visits from reporters wanting to know more about her sonJohnny Footballwho has remained tight lipped in deference to A&Ms policy regarding freshman athletes.