Johnny Manziel took the college football world by storm last year. Coming out of Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas, Manziel was a three-star recruit according to Scouts and Rivals. Manziel was redshirted his freshman year while Ryan Tannehill was the quarterback for the Aggies. When Tannehill left for the NFL there was a three-way battle for the quarterback spot between Manziel, Jameill Showers and Matt Joeckel. After Manziel took the starting QB job, he never looked back and ended up winning the Heisman Trophy.
But things have not always gone exactly as planned for "Johnny Football". In June 2012, Manziel was arrested on three misdemeanors, stemming from a late-night fight in College Station, Texas. He was charged with disorderly conduct, failure to identify and possession of a fictitious drivers license. Those chargers were later pled down to just failure to identify, with the other two being dismissed.
Much like the 2012 offseason, Manziel's character concerns showed themselves in 2013. After Manziel won the Heisman, pictures of him partying hard were plastered all over the internet. He is getting criticized for every move he makes, legal or not. Despite it being legal for him to drink with a parent present, Manziel got criticized for pictures that popped up on TMZ right after New Years. The media was talking about his partying ways, even though he wasn't drinking in any of the pictures. He was also criticized for sitting court side at a Mavericks game, even though the tickets were a birthday present. Manziel was also criticized for flashing a handful of cash that he has won at a casino in Oklahoma. Which isn't illegal since you only have to be 18 to get into a casino and have fun in Oklahoma.
However, those weren't the only news worthy events that happened to Manziel this offseason. Earlier this month, he was supposed to serve as a coach/counselor during the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux, Louisiana. According to reports he arrived late and missed the coaches meeting that night. That Friday a photo of Manziel sitting at a bar with A.J. McCarron was tweeted out. He was late for the early training session on Friday. On Saturday he was no where to be seen. Camp officials couldn't find him and his parents later called saying he was too sick to take part in the camp. That following Sunday the camp released a statement regarding Manziel.
“Johnny Manziel did participate in some activities in the 2013 Manning Passing Academy as a college counselor/coach,” according to a statement from the camp. “After missing and being late for practice assignments, Johnny explained that he had been feeling ill. Consequently, we agreed that it was in everyone’s best interest for him to go home a day early.”
Not long after the Manning Passing Academy incident happened, Peyton Manning released a statement defending him in this incident.
“I enjoyed meeting Johnny,” Peyton Manning said, according to the Daily News. “I can remember a 20-year-old Eli (Manning, Peyton's brother) missing a practice and catching some flak. We always have counselors who leave early. Johnny was great with the campers for the time he was here. He had to leave early. I wish him the best and I want him to come back as a counselor next year.”
When looking at if a player is going to fail on the field, his off the field incidents aren't the only thing you can look at and take into account. You have to look at the history of other players in his position. In the last 20 years, five players besides Manziel have won the Heisman and returned to school for the next season. Those five players were Jason White of Oklahoma, Matt Leinart of USC, Sam Bradford of Oklahoma, Tim Tebow of Florida and Mark Ingram of Alabama.
When looking of the stats of those 5 players in their Heisman season and then looking at their stats the following season you can see if it is normal for a Heisman winner to slump the following season. Of the two players I looked at, two of them had a significant decline in stats the following season. Sam Bradford and Mark Ingram saw their stats dramatically fall. Both however were due to injuries to the players and not just because of bad years. Bradford only played in three games all year long while Ingram missed two games but also split time with Sophomore back Trent Richardson. The other three players stats all compared very well in their Heisman season and their following season.
So will Manziel fair as well as Tebow, Leinart and White in the season following his Heisman or will he suffer the fate of Ingram and Bradford? It's impossible to predict whether an injury will happen or not. If Manziel can stay out of trouble and stay focused, both of which he did during the actual season this past year, there isn't any reason that he can't repeat or at least come close to producing the same type of season this year. However, he is showing that he may not be mature enough to handle the big time now that the spotlight is clearly on him. Last year he came out of nowhere and this year he won't have that luxury. All eyes will be on him each week and he needs to come out and prove to the world he is mature enough to handle it. If he does that, the sky is the limit.