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Johnny Manziel: Meeting Drake was highlight of offseason

April 13, 2013 By Larry Brown 1 Comment

Johnny Manziel has had an eventful offseason filled with trips, vacations, sports events, and celebrity interactions. But the Texas A&M quarterback says his coolest experience of all since winning the Heisman Trophy was meeting rapper Drake in Toronto.

Manziel joined “Rage” with Richie and Greggo on 105.3 The Fan on Friday and was asked about his coolest moment since winning the Heisman.

“Probably meeting Drake,” Manziel said. “I went to Toronto before I went to Cabo for spring break and got to hang out with him and all of his crew and kind of watch how the music was made. Just got a chance to get to know him a little better and get advice from someone who I really, really like their music.”

Anyone who has been following Manziel lately should not be too surprised by his comment. The Aggies quarterback has been repping Drake all over the place.

When he returned to Twitter on Wednesday, he did so by quoting a lyric from Drake’s 5 AM in Toronto song. Most of his tweets on Thursday morning included some reference to Drake and his crew, including this one:

My brother aka the kid aka @drake retweeting me is family #tOVOnto

— Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) April 12, 2013

He also has been sharing photos on Instagram of himself wearing clothing with Drake’s “OVO” logo on it (as seen above).

Manziel told Rage that he is trying hard to be the same person his parents raised him to be despite all the attention he’s received. He revealed that he keeps his Heisman Trophy at his parents’ home because it is a safe environment for the prized possession. Manziel also commented on his fake Longhorns tattoo that caused a stir on the Internet.

“I should have known better that it would have got blown out and put out everywhere,” Manziel told Rage. “It was just kind of joking with a Longhorn on spring break in Cabo kind of like a dare.”

The redshirt sophomore also talked about his expectations for the upcoming season.

“I expect hostility whenever we’re traveling. I have a target on my back, we have a target on our back. Obviously there’s going to be people trying to get under my skin, rattle me. But I just have to make sure that my teammates and my coaches are what matters the most, block all the other stuff out.”

A&M went 11-2 last season and finished second in the SEC West behind Alabama. He believes they can win the league this season.

The good news for Aggies fans is despite Johnny Football’s world tour since winning the Heisman, he looked good at the team’s spring game. Manziel went 24 of 28 for 303 yards and three touchdowns.

Photo: Instagram/Johnny Manziel

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Johnny Manziel

Johnny Manziel returns to Twitter by quoting Drake lyrics

April 10, 2013 By Larry Brown 12 Comments

Johnny Manziel broke a self-imposed Twitter ban by tweeting out some random lyrics to a Drake song early Wednesday morning.

In case you don’t recognize them, those lyrics are from rapper Drake’s 5AM in Toronto song. Manziel tweeted the clean version of the lyrics.

Prior to sending out the Drake lyrics, Manziel had not tweeted since March 25. Apparently an impostor account tweeted some criticism of Ohio State guard Aaron Craft, leading many Buckeyes fans to become angry with Manziel. The next day he told ESPN that he was shutting it all off because it can be a distraction.

Even though Manziel is no longer tweeting — until this morning — he has been using Instagram. Over the weekend, he messed with Aggies fans by throwing up Texas Tech’s “guns up” symbol.

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Johnny Manziel

Johnny Manziel throws up Texas Tech ‘guns up’ symbol (Picture)

April 6, 2013 By Steve DelVecchio 2 Comments

Johnny Manziel may have made a seemingly mature decision last month when he announced he is taking a break from Twitter, but the Texas A&M star has remained active with his Instagram account. Isn’t that basically the same thing? You can certainly use Instagram to piss people off just as effectively as Twitter, which Manziel reminded us of early Saturday morning.

As you can see, the Heisman Trophy winner posted a photo of him flashing Texas Tech’s “guns up” symbol with a young lady who appears to be his friend. We did a bit of poking around on Instagram and discovered that Manziel appeared in another photo with the young woman about five months ago. It also looks as though she has worked on the sidelines of Red Raiders games, possibly as a student manager. The photo was captioned as follows:

“#Getyourdamngunsup #kingsbury #gigem”

It should be noted that Kliff Kingsbury, who is now the head coach at Texas Tech, was Manziel’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Texas A&M last season. He was probably just having a little fun supporting his friend and his former coach, but that doesn’t mean Aggies fans are going to appreciate it. It will probably go over about as well as this controversial tattoo picture did.

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Johnny Manziel, Texas Tech Football

Johnny Manziel taking a break from Twitter

March 26, 2013 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

Johnny Manziel says he is taking a break from Twitter.

The Texas A&M star quarterback has been overwhelmed with the attention he’s received and decided that leaving Twitter is the proper course of action for now.

“I’ve kind of just shut it all off,” Manziel told ESPN’s Mark Schlabach. “With how the media has been with me for a while, I just shut everything off. As of [Monday], I said I was done with [Twitter] for however long. It’s fun to have, but it can get to be distracting at points.”

Manziel won the Heisman Trophy after his record-breaking redshirt freshman season for the Aggies. Pictures of him partying at a New York club emerged shortly after the ceremony, and he has steadily remained in the news ever since.

“I’m surprised to [see] how the attention has continued through the offseason. I guess I thought it would die off and slow down a little bit, but it really hasn’t,” he told Schlabach.

It’s been the exact opposite; the buzz surrounding Manziel has only grown this offseason. The first signs of Manziel’s personality emerged after pictures of him partying in a Scooby Doo costume on Halloween were publicized. He went on to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa, win the Heisman Trophy, and destroy Oklahoma in a bowl game.

Manziel did the Top 10 on Letterman, played golf with the Jonas Brothers, sat courtside at NBA games, showed off money he won at a casino, and he continued rubbing elbows with various celebrities after winning the Heisman. He became so popular that he began taking online courses this semester to avoid all the attention he receives on campus.

Taking online courses seems to have allowed Manziel more time to party; he was spotted partying at Mardi Gras in February, and he was in Mexico last week for spring break. He caused a huge stir when he was seen with a fake tattoo of the Texas Longhorns logo on his torso. He admitted to ESPN that was done as a joke.

“It was just a fun deal,” Manziel said. “Somebody dared me to do it, and we thought it would be funny.”

If his goal was to freak out Aggies fans, then he certainly succeeded.

Manziel may be taking a break from Twitter, but that might not be enough to stop the events of his personal life from being shared online. As long as he keeps partying or hanging out with celebrities, there will be others sharing the news and photos on their Twitter or Instagram accounts. He needs to cut out the partying if he wants his life to become more private. I don’t think that will fit his style.

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Johnny Manziel, Twitter

Johnny Manziel reportedly shoved a graduate assistant during a scrimmage

March 25, 2013 By Steve DelVecchio 1 Comment

Johnny Manziel may be spending his offseason living it up and doing seemingly anything that will put a smile on his face, but that does not mean he has lost his competitive edge. Texas A&M held a spring scrimmage on Saturday and Manziel looked a bit rusty. He threw three interceptions, the last of which came on a short pass into the end zone as he was rolling to his right. That’s when things reportedly got a bit heated.

According to the Houston Chronicle, a graduate assistant jumped up and down with excitement after seeing the defense intercept Manziel’s pass. The GA was supposedly within arm’s length of Manziel — who was not in a good — so he shoved him. Players and coaches who were standing nearby quickly interjected and separated the two.

Don’t let the reigning Heisman Trophy winner fool you. He may be spending a lot of time sitting courtside at NBA games, dominating the casino and hanging with the Jonas Brothers, but it sounds like Manziel still cares about winning. If he’s still dressing up in Mardi Gras attire in a few months, then we can start worrying. But for now, don’t jump up and down in Johnny’s face after he throws an interception. Johnny don’t like that.

H/T Saturday Down South

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Johnny Manziel

Marshall Henderson and Johnny Manziel are now Twitter pals

March 24, 2013 By Larry Brown 1 Comment

Marshall Henderson and Johnny Manziel have bonded over Twitter in the past few days and are in the process of forming one of the most perfect friendships in all of collegiate athletics.

It all started with a tweet from Johnny Football to the Ole Miss guard on Saturday that resulted in a response from Henderson a day later:

@jmanziel2 preciate ya big dog!!! ima be in college station for chili fest if we dont make the final 4, gonna have ta link up

— marshall henderson (@NativeFlash22) March 24, 2013

Chilifest 2013, baby. It is going down. The meetup of the century. Henderson and Manziel tearing up the chili festival in Snook, Texas. Slamming cornbread and chili bowls while listening to country music.

Seriously though, these two seem like perfect friends. Manziel doesn’t have the villain persona that Henderson does, but he has become the partying badboy who refuses to make his life private. Henderson also appears to be a party animal, and he has been leading Ole Miss to upset wins. Both were top newcomers in the SEC and led their respective underdog teams to surprising success. Manziel is much better in his sport than Henderson is, but the two seem to have a lot in common.

Filed Under: College Basketball Tagged With: Johnny Manziel, Marshall Henderson

Tyrann Mathieu believes he was the best player at the NFL combine (Video)

March 13, 2013 By Steve DelVecchio 1 Comment

Considering he has not played in an actual football game since 2011, former LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu put together a pretty impressive showing at the NFL Combine last month. He ran a 4.50 in the 40-yard dash and reportedly held his own in drills, so his actual performance probably didn’t do much to affect his stock.

As we know, Mathieu’s NFL prospects hinge more on whether or not teams are willing to take a risk on him given his history of off-field issues. According to the artist formerly known as the Honey Badger, any team that drafts him would be selecting the best player from the Combine.

“I feel like I was the best one there, by far,” Mathieu confidently told TMZ on Tuesday. “I put a lot of hard work into it. I just tried to go out there confident in my game.”

Between these comments and the ones he made about shutting down Calvin Johnson, it seems like Mathieu feels like he can talk his way into the NFL. He was also asked which NFL team he would most enjoy playing for.

“It’d have to be the 49ers, just as a fan” he said. “They’ve got a pretty good organization. They’ve got a pretty good dynasty that they’re trying to pursue. It’d be great to be a part of the 49ers club.”

No team is going to wager their future on Mathieu, so a team that is already in good shape defensively like the Niners could be one of the ones to show interest in him. However, I’m sure he’d be happy to play for any team in the NFL. With how quickly Mathieu’s stock has fallen, just hearing his name called in April would be a success.

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Johnny Manziel, Tyrann Mathieu