Club Shay Shay - Club Shay Shay - Johnny Manziel Part 1 REWIND

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

Club Shay Shay welcomes Johnny Manziel for a candid conversation with Shannon Sharpe. In this episode, the Texas legend boldly declares Kyler Murray as the best high school quarterback to ever come out of the state, even placing him above Patrick Mahomes and himself. He shares insights that his decision to not commit to Oregon had nothing to do with Marcus Mariota's presence, and then reminisces about beating Alabama as a true freshman at Texas A&M. The conversation takes a surprising turn as Manziel reflects on the Manti Te’o catfishing scandal and the historic Heisman race they were apart of, which Johnny Football inevitably won.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Who are the 25 greatest football players to grace the gridiron since the year 2000, introducing NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years? Join me, Greg Rosenthal and an all-star cast of media personalities, including Mina Keim, Steve Weisch, Kevin Harlan, and more for a look at football's best since the turn of the century. Listen to NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years starting on June 30th on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

There are people saying Johnny Manziel will be bigger than LeBron James in Cleveland. I think that person is Skip Bayless. I've been grinding all my life, sacrifice, thoughts will pay the price, wanna slice, got your bowl of dice, that's why, all my life, I've been grinding all my life. Hello, welcome to another episode of Club CheChe. I am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proprietor of Club CheChe, and the guy that's stopping by for conversation today is one of the most polarizing college athletes ever,

one of the best college football players ever member of the Texas A&M Hall of Fame He's the first freshman to ever win the Heisman Trophy a rock star quarterback a larger-than-life persona a phenomenon He was must-see TV every Saturday former NFL quarterback Texas legend and the stadium in which he played in in college Has been called the house that Johnny built Johnny Menzel. What's up baby?

Bro how you doing? Long time coming. Thank you bro I don't want to toast I know you don't drink anymore you don't drink anymore right? Right now I'm in the way don't want to toast the water but nevertheless I appreciate the offer. I appreciate you stopping by. Long time coming, you know.

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and state specific responsible gambling resources. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com slash basketball terms. I'm trying to figure out what's in the Texas water. You get Patrick Mahomes, Drew Rees, Matthew Stafford, Andrew Luck, Kyle Emery, Vince Young, Nick Foes, RG3, Ryan Tanya, Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts. What the hell are they feeding them? What are they drinking in

Texas to produce these type quarterbacks? It's a way of life. From the time you're a kid and you can go back even further than just the guys that you named. That's our current, you know, NFL recent guys that you see, but you can take it back. You know, there were guys that you see in the NFL. Let's give you a great example. Andy Dalton, right? What that guy did at TCU, what he did for the state of Texas.

And if you're a Dallas Fort Worth kid, you love the frogs during that time. Right. You know, so there have been great quarterbacks come through the state of Texas for a long during that time. Right. So there have been great quarterbacks come through the state of Texas for a long, long time. And I think it comes down to this, that Texas high school football is a way of life. From the time you're five, six years old, you're the pop Warner, the flag football, all that stuff that's

going on is a way of life. And I played baseball my whole life growing up. So football was never it for me until I got to be about 14 or 15 years old. Right. So just looking around and knowing the landscape now, it's only gotten bigger and it's only growing. But there is something in the water.

There's a bunch of dogs, not just at the quarterback position, but all the way throughout. I mean, you look at Miles Garrett, our defensive player of the year we were talking about, like there's some real, real cats that come from Houston they come from Dallas they come from San Antonio and they come from Austin and it's just a great state for football I mean if in my opinion if you look at it countrywide you got Cali you got Texas and you have Florida where the dogs come from in my opinion. Do you remember watching those guys playing high school football when you were growing up and did any of those guys you try to

emulate? Yeah I think RG3 did an amazing job for me and like you know setting a great example of what a dual threat quarterback should be. I mean I won the Heisman 2012, he won it in 2011 so I got to watch that crazy year of a High-flying throw it around the yard kind of offense and a guy that could run that track speed Everything that he had complete package for what you know in my opinion a college dual threat quarterback should be Did you ever see any of those guys play high school football or just watch them from home when they highlights came on? Tell I would say I watched Kyler's career probably the closest Okay, I had a huge hand in getting him to Texas A&M right

2012 and 13 whenever I was at A&M I saw this kid and I'd known his dad obviously a legendary quarterback at Texas A&M and his own right but Kyler, you know, I saw this kid who was Kyler, you know, I saw this kid who was ingrained and like molded to be exactly where he's at today in his life. And I think that's what his dad did for him to, you know, get him to a place of high level success. And if you know anything about Texas high school football, I would say his resume and what he did makes him hands down the best Texas high school football player to ever

play player, not just quarterback, player. Ever in the state of Texas. Wow. I think he lost, I don't know if he lost the game. Maybe one. Right. And that would have to be checked. But like, one.

And what this kid did, made circles from not just Dallas, not just Houston, not just Austin. Right. From the top of the tip to the bottom and from east to west. Right. Well what happened? From the top of the tip to the bottom and from east to west right? With well what happened why wasn't Texas A&M able to keep him? You know I have my opinion on this and one that I think is very correct and the fact that

That same time we signed two five-star quarterbacks, so we had Kyler Murray and Kyle Allen in that same class. Right. After I left the direction of the program, I felt lost a lot of its stability. You know, we had really good coaches in our organization, but we didn't hone in and detail and work and focus on one guy who was going to be our guy. Right. They played this game of back and forth and not like, Sledling on the guy. Kyler Murray. Right. What are we talking about?

Lost one game his whole career? You're not going to go give this guy the keys? I don't care what he's doing. College is a time as a freshman that you mold men. You mold these guys into what you want them to be. When I went to college, my dad Mike Sherman shook his hand and looked him in the eye and said, this is where you take over and molding my son into being the grown-up that he needs to be one day. And I think with that, Coach

Sumlin lost a little bit of what he was originally there to do. You get a new contract, you go to the SEC, you win 12 games, you get a Heisman winner, you're talking about new stadium, you're talking about new deal your focus shifts from what the main thing is To a whole bunch of bullshit right in my opinion And they didn't just hone in and they didn't give him the keys and I think a lot of that to be said has to Deal with Kyle Allen as well. I think he made it very difficult behind the scenes for what people didn't know to just give Kyle or the keys and

You know in my opinion of where our program is now as a football program, that is the one step and one thing and mistake that we made that is keeping us from being where we want to be. And especially during that time, why we didn't have success. Because Kyler was supposed to be that was supposed to be you. He was supposed to be that transition because of what you started in FCC and we'll talk about that that Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa and what you actually did down there So that was supposed to be the next step. Okay, Johnny built this he has it going Guess what we have somebody to step right in and keep it going boom right there in front of your face

I worked my ass off behind the scenes to get Kyler Murray to Texas A&M there in front of your face. I worked my ass off behind the scenes to get Kyler Murray to Texas A&M. Loved him. Loved what he stood for. Loved who he was as a kid. Loved that he looked up to me at that point in time. My times have changed since then, but at that point in time, the look I got in his eyes when I hosted him around and took care of him was that he looked up to me as something

he wanted to be like me. Right. And I could see that in his eyes as a kid. I have very mixed emotions and strong feelings about that with what happened through it. And like I said, it comes back to I think Kyle did a really good job of playing good football. He was a very capable quarterback. You know, he's still, you know, behind Josh Allen a little bit right now and working with him and has been right next to him for a long time. So that says something about his character, who he was as a football player, albeit not all the accolades and everything you would expect, but a very solid, you know, fundamental

football player. But when you watch Kyla transfer and then you see what he did for the University of Oklahoma, taking him, I think he took him to the college football playoff both years, he wins the Heisman Trophy and ouch, and you're saying, saying hold on we let that guy walk out the door We've Alone and I think he'd have been successful and in the offense obviously with With uh the head coach they had at Oklahoma at USC now Lincoln Lincoln Riley And I think clean clear for the you know Lincoln Lincoln Riley and you say like well I don't really care what system he is.

You see how Kyler, what he can do, he can throw the ball, he can run. He's a true definition of a dual threat quarterback. No matter how small he is, I think a lot of people like get out of discounting him. Maybe Texas A&M didn't realize what they had because they're like, okay, you walk out the door, you only five, whatever it is, you're not gonna be.

And he catch fire. Did they not just learn it with me? Did they not watch the 5'11 guy come and rock the world and put it on fire? Right. They believed in me, and that came from Cliff Kingsbury. That's where I got mine from, that's where I got my confidence, that's where I got my guy who believed in me.

Jake Spavitol was our offensive coordinator when Kyler was there. And as I was in Cleveland, I was talking to him quite a bit, figuring out what the vibe was. I went back to games. I went and wanted to see Kyler. And the mesh and the field just wasn't there for cohesiveness. And I remember talking to Jake about it and him just kind of

being like, I remember him saying this, that it's kind of out of my hands. That it was like above the offensive coordinator's pay grade, which only leaves one person left. The head coach. That's all it leaves. So whether it was, you know, I'm speculating, but at the end of the day, that's what I was told what it was.

What was your relationship like with Kevin Sunderland? My relationship with Kevin Sunderland was great. You know, he was my dog. You know, he rode for me hard. He went to bat for me. He went to war for me in a multitude of different scenarios. You know, I think where our relationship fell out a little bit is, you know, how do you have a guy who's a grown man who I look back on this now reflective in this, you know, how do you have a guy who's a grown man? Who I look back on this now reflective in this, you know, how do you have a guy who's a grown man? You know telling me what I should do. Obviously my coach my guy I'm looking up to my head football coach It's telling me to live a certain way and put all this party in this behind you But if you know anything about Kevin Summers what he's doing behind the scenes

Oh, he's already into's doing behind the scenes. Oh, he's partying too? So from behind, from my eyes, it's hypocritical. We're partying together. What? We're a 40-40 club in New York. Oh, yeah! We in the back room playing pool with Ace of Spades. We're chilling. Right.

Coach is there. This is what he does. So now looking back at it, it's hypocritical to me. And our relationship is great and will forever be great and no I do not sit here today as a judge of a man a judge of a person who helped get me to the point of where I want to be in life by no means whatsoever I'm calling the spade a spade right and I'm just gonna be and give the gods honest truth as what I know it to be Right that ruffles some feathers. So be be it. It's the way the world goes.

Are you surprised that he hasn't got a head coaching job? No. You're not surprised? Mm-mm. Why? I think what made Coach Sumlin' so great is no longer really with him right now where his focus is. You know, I think life has gotten

the better of him a little bit. And I'm a prime example of I want to sit up here and be a preacher. You know, I don't want to sit up here and tell anybody they're living wrong or anything like that, because that's what it used to feel like me back in the day. We knew we were trying to do that to me. So I don't see the same spark. You know, I don't have much of a relationship anymore with him anymore. We'll reach out and talk like here and there maybe once a year, but not like I

have the relationship with my other coaches and you know my gut instinct and feel is and I know this because of instances that happen when I left. All right, I'm leaving to go to the draft, and I'll paint a picture for you. It's 2000, the spring of 2014, December 2013, right in there about December, January, I'm getting ready to make this decision on if I'm going to the NFL draft or I'm gonna stay.

And I found this out five years later from my dad. But my dad went and had a meeting with Kevin Sutton, and pretty much went to him man to man and was like, we'll take three million bucks, and we'll stay for the next two years. And my dad says this is true as today as he did when he told me. He left. He did the same thing that he did when Cliff Kingsbury asked

him to be the highest paid offensive coordinator the year before and Cliff would have stayed with me another year and we would have ran it back and gone for another one. But he comes to someone, he asks him for X amount, someone he had this ego about him that what we built, we was all him. And then you start that next year, okay, I leave, decide to go to the NFL. This deal doesn't work. Kevin, someone kind of blows us off. We can do this without you type of vibe, okay?

So the fall comes around 2014 A&M football season. Kenny Hill is named our starting quarterback. We went our first five games of the year. We're five and oh, we're top 10 in the country. I ain't getting no love in the program. Yeah, because I'm thinking, I remember hearing it and they talking about Johnny who? Who? Because he had a, he I think he had like.

South Carolina, five touchdowns, first game of the season. OK, OK. So you remember hearing it also. So hold on, I want to make sure, I got a back track. Yeah, back it up. You said your dad went to Kevin Summer. Yep. And stands for $3 million.

We're staying for two more. Now, you do realize this is prior to NIL. I agree. So this is a back room deal. Went on for 30, 40 years before. It was the same way that was happening when you was getting recruited back in the day. And you guys, and you know, Texas A&M got money for it.

I mean, Texas A&M, nobody got nobody like Texas A&M. Y'all got the big dogs. I can ring&M. Y'all got the big dogs. The Aggie ring, baby. Y'all got the big dogs. And so $3 million, if he had gone to any of the boosters and said, you know what? Johnny's dad said he'll stay for an additional two years if we just break him off three mil.

Just keep it in cash, throw it somewhere. We'll get it later. We don't need it right now. Right. But for my security, if something happens for two years down the road, and my dad did this without me knowing, and I ain't mad at him about it for nothing. It's the way the business worked back then. There was a bag man.

There was a bag man at LSU. There was a bag man at Bama. There was a bag man at every school around the country if you were competing for a national title. It is what it was. And it was always that way until we're into the NIL portion of everything now, the way it should be. If I ask you, I say, Johnny, who's your Mount Rushmore

high school quarterbacks in the state of Texas? What four heads you putting up? Kyle Murray is for sure. Andrew Luck was really, really really really good. Okay Who else man Who else RG 3 is up there for sure. You can't leave RG 3 off that And then oh man tough Young tough. Oh, you can't

And then oh man tough. Why you got this young tough? Oh, you can't You can't label it to four. I played against Baker. So I didn't get to see him start at quarterback But we played Lake Travis his high school. I mean, this is an impossible list. It probably takes five The best that I got to like be around Andrew Luck was a little bit before me. So From what I saw and I remember, Kyler top-notch, you know, I didn't get the breeze days. Stafford for the legacy he left at Highland Park and what you would hear about and nobody had an arm in the state of Texas like him ever. So Kyler, Stafford for sure. I think you have to throw RG3 in there winning the Heisman. I think you have to throw Baker in

there for winning the Heisman. So you got what? Three Heisman Trophy winners and Stafford. Pretty good. And your gold is Kyler. To me. To me and he's younger than me. Wow.

That's. So let me ask you this Johnny. Your upbringing. What was your upbringing like and what type of kid with Johnny Manziel? Johnny Manziel was a really good kid. You know, up until the time I probably got my driver's license 14, 15. You know, I grew up in Tyler, Texas, small East Texas town, about an hour and a half outside of Dallas.

My family came over from Lebanon and went straight to East Texas. So I was like the fourth generation of people that have been here in the States. I was a baseball player. I wanted to be Derek Jeter. I wore number two because of Jeter. I loved the Yankees at that point in time in my life. And my life was, you know, until I was 13, 14 years old. It was baseball tonight, every night, sports center with the OGs back in the day. And I sat and I watched every day, every baseball.

I loved it. And from the time I was like eight years old on until the time I was like 14, 15, I traveled and played baseball. I got in the car with my mom. My dad worked at a car dealership. So six days a week, he was grinding, trying to make life easy on us. And I felt very blessed that I did have the ability to have an easy life.

I think I put out this persona at the time later that we were well off and wealthy in this. And I think that was just, at the time, something to say, maybe what I even truly believed at that point in time. But to get back to what I was saying, I was a baseball player. And travel, me and my mom, my sister, hop in the car, and we're going to Louisiana. We're driving all over Texas.

We're going everywhere to go play travel and select baseball as a kid. I was playing a year up from my age group, so I'm like, I'm in the deep end, and I'm holding my own and like always thought even to this day. 25 years, 25 players before training camp kickstarts a new NFL season. NFL Daily is going to look back. It is a special six episode series where myself, Greg Rosenthal and some of the top NFL minds like Kevin Harlan, Mina Kimes, and Bill Barnwell

make the case for each player. We're taking a look back, giving you NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years. So who made the list? You know Tom Brady's on it. Where's Patrick Mahomes? Mahomes is into the end zone! Touchdown! Kansas City! He's on it. How about Lamar Jackson? Jackson takes it himself.

Look at him dart back and forth. Oh, he broke his ankles and he's got a touchdown. He is Houdini. You are going to have to listen to find out, listen to NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years, starting on June 30th on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. That baseball was my best sport. That I was always meant and destined to be a baseball player. And I think because I started so early, by the time I got to high school I was just burnt out. Football started to come in my life really what I vividly remember is the 2005 Rose Bowl.

Okay. And for Christmas Day, I wake up and my dad has his number 10 Vince Young Texas jersey. I was a Texas Longhorn freak. Right. And I'm gonna sit here and get a lot of hell from my Aggies, but like it is what it is. And I remember this Christmas Day,

I might go to the tree, see this Vince Young jersey with the Rose Bowl patch on it. And after that, it was really just like all football from that game, that last drive, that cross into the end zone by Vince. The confetti was the background on my computer for four years with Vince. Rose Bowl was the biggest to me.

When you say you were a good kid, good kid by 90% of America or good kid just for Johnny Manzella? Good kid by 100% of America. I was raised the proper way. I was raised in a strong, sturdy household, both mom and dad there, and younger sister, three years younger than me. You know, we were religious, you know, we were a Christian family. We went to church on Sundays.

Sundays were our day for, you know, our family golf outings where my dad and my sister would play me and my mom, and we would go play a scramble every Sunday. We were very family-oriented. You know, my time I spent with my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, we were a cohesive unit, especially back then. And I think, you know, it's hard because you look back at what you know me now and you wouldn't expect that, which is why you asked the question that you did. Because I didn't prove to the world when I got on a world stage what my morals and

values and how I raised truly was and I think a lot of that shift started to happen as I was 15, 16 years old and I was living and originally grew up in Tyler, okay? Earl Campbell to Tyler. Two Heisman Trophy winners in the same town. Tyler Rose. Tyler Rose baby. And when I was about 13, I'm in between my sixth grade semester. So it's like January of my sixth grade year. My dad comes in, he's like, we're moving. Doesn't say a word, just packs everything up. And we drive five and a half hours away to Kerrville, Texas. And Kerrville, Texas is 40 miles west of San Antonio out in the middle of the hill country. Beautiful, but it's very country, you know, it's very little backwoods kind of place, 20,000 people. And it's dually trucks and farms and ranches and everything you would expect

to Texas town to be. And when I went there, life shifted. It was like the old Johnny Manziel was there before that move. And then there was a completely new person born after that. And I think that comes from, like, when I got there and I first got to class at this new school, I was nervous. You know, I didn't have any of my friends.

I didn't know anything. It was the most first time in my life. I think I was really, really uncomfortable in the situation that I was in. And I created and took over a little bit of a different persona in the sense of like, kind of where I get a little bit more of my attitude, a little bit more of this country place where I felt like I had to, you know, I have to stick up for myself, not even flex, I stick up for myself.

You know, I'm a new kid on the block here, I ain't getting bullied around by nobody out here. My dad taught me the right way, that if somebody wrongs you, in a sense, right, you can either try and handle it the right way as a man or if somebody takes it too far down the line, I give you full permission to do what you need to do to protect yourself. And I felt like I was getting bullied around and punked around a little bit and I started to stand my ground. And with that became a new like growth as a 15 year old, 14 year old kid in life. And I remember that shift like it was yesterday.

You said your dad all of a sudden packed the family up and left. How unexpected was it? Was there any talk, do you remember him, he and your mom having a conversation about, you know, this is not working, I think we might need to move, I think there's a better opportunity over here. Was there ever any conversation that your family, there was a possibility that your family might leave Tyler and head to where you ended up going?

None, none. Came in one day and just, that was it. We got in the car, we went, and that was it. Never heard a conversation, never heard a talk, never really got a reason, nothing. We were just doing it. And as I know now, my dad took a better job in a different industry to be able to go do that

and do something that gave him more time to be a father. You know, the car business for him was a six day a week, six in the morning till eight p.m. grind. Like I got to see my dad at dinner at night and then on the Sundays that we spoke about so You know I get two hours with him at night During the week and then we get that Sunday family time that we get and hopefully baseball doesn't overlap So it was very much a family decision to be able to spend more time together and get a fresh start

You know my family and Tyler Had a reputation about him, you know family and Tyler had a reputation about him, you know, as being wild and being this party family and kind of, you know, the rumor, I guess, around East Texas was that, you know, it was a little bit mafioso kind of vibe to it a little bit is what I hear and what I was hearing as a kid. Right. That's what I would hear when I was in elementary school. Oh, you're a man. Like it was always that kind of like we're judging you before we even know who you are.

So I think a lot of that had to do with my dad tired of hearing all the chirp about our last name. When did you or if ever when you were growing up have an appreciation for what your dad was doing? You mentioned that he worked six days a week, that he left at six a.m. in the morning, and he came home at eight p.m. and you guys had dinner. So you basically got the dinner time, that was it, and then you got Sunday golf outing. Did you ever become resentful

that you weren't spending the quality time with your dad, and that he wasn't driving you around to all these baseball games? I wouldn't say it was resentment. I would say there was full- full blown anger at that point in time back in the day, like to the max. Like I'm watching other kids have their parents be there and stuff, and it's a natural inclination to be able to be

like, yo, what's wrong with me? Why is my mom is a rock. My mom was it. She never blinked. She never solid, solid woman. And now that I look back and I realize what my dad was doing, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of energy to be able to provide for a family, especially when you get away from the nest egg and

the grandparents and everything and you go do it on your own. So, for a long time, this is where me and my dad around this time just started button heads. And then this is where the sneak, this is where me and my dad around this time just started button heads. And then this is where the sneak, this is where the sneaking and the drinking, and this is where it all kind of like starts to unravel a little bit. And this is kind of at this point in time,

15, 16 years old, where I start to go down a path that you later see on a national scale. Do you believe had your father been around more frequently that the Johnny Manziel that started happening around 15, 16 and would later cost you a lot of what you had worked so hard for, had he been around, do you believe this would have happened? No. I believe that life goes exactly the way that it's supposed to go.

So if he was around, it's a big if, right? And that's a hypothetical type of situation. Hard for me to answer. But I know now all the bad parts of me make me exactly who I am, right? All the failure that I've had in life, failure, what I really fail on. I live my dream by the time I was 22 years old That dream that I had when I'm sitting in that classroom in Kerrville, Texas. I accomplished a 22 Mm-hmm now my dreams never were to go be in the position that you were in with a Hall of Fame jacket And to be the best NFL player ever I very much felt like when I got drafted and that I got a chance to start in an NFL game Like when I got drafted and that I got a chance to start in an NFL game, like my dreams were completely accomplished almost. Wow.

And that's just the way I truly feel, you know. So my life, the good, the bad and everything in between, it went exactly the way that it was supposed to go to be sitting here with you today. And I learned more through the failures than I ever did through the rise. Ever. And I learned more through the failures than I ever did through the rise ever. You're growing up, you say, because you had played baseball, started baseball at such an early age. By the time you got to about 14, 15, you had completely burnt out on the game of baseball. So now you transition to football. Was your size ever a problem?

Did a coach ever tell you, Johnny, you're just too small, son. Of course, of course. I think that's a big reason why I didn't go to the University of Texas. They wouldn't pull the trigger on me and my size at any position. They wanted me to play safety like safety, safety, safety. Me ain't got a lot of white safeties out there, Shannon. No, no, no, they don't. They don't. So what I'm thinking, I'm thinking, hold on.

If you're too small to play, it means 5'11". How much do you weigh coming out of high school? Probably 173 pounds, 175. But they they didn't think you could play quarterback because of that size, but they felt you'd be perfect for safety. They saw athletic ability. Okay. They saw a special athletic talent and they didn't know what it was.

And to be honest, until I met George Whitfield and went and started training with him, I didn't believe in myself that I was a quarterback. Okay. You were an athlete. I was just wanting to play football. Right. I would play receiver. I played running back in high school.

I played anything that I could play to get I played running back in high school. I played anything that I could play to get on the field and be with my dogs. I'm looking at you in your high school career. You passed over 7600 yards. You had 76 total touchdowns in high school, Parade All-America. Mr. Texas football, if you're the Mr. Football in the state of... There are certain states, and this is not a knock, but if you're Mr. Football in the state of, there are certain states, and this is not a knock, but if you're Mr. Football in North Dakota, it don't hold the same weight as Mr. Football in Florida, Georgia, Texas, California.

If you're from North Dakota, maybe. Maybe if you're from North Dakota, you're absolutely right. But being Mr. Football in the state of Texas, that means no matter what your size is, Johnny, everybody should have been beaten down your door and not looking at you say well he's only 5'11", 173. The world was perfect maybe it would have went that way. But we both know that it's not and that people oversee greatness all the time. We do, you, I mean not necessarily you but in a media type, people overlook greatness all the time. People are still knocking down Brock Purdy's door right now and all the haters are coming through.

For what? Mr. Irrelevant to a Super Bowl? I mean, it's about identifying greatness in somebody in their soul and in their heart. It's more than just what you can do with your hands and with your arms and with your legs. Right. I'm looking at the schools, Oregon, Rice, Stanford,

Iowa State, Baylor, CSU, Colorado State, Louisiana Tech, Tulsa, Wyoming, and Texas A&M. And it says, I read that you said that you decommitted from Oregon because they had Marcus Mario and you didn't feel confident enough in yourself that you could beat him out or you get an opportunity to play. I didn't go to Oregon, not anything that had to do with Marcus. It's a really nice unis. Hey, that was the reason I wanted to go. 2011, I think was 2010, Cam Newton, Auburn year.

They played LeMichael James and the Ducks and the Fiesta Bowl for the National Championship. Those jerseys coming out, I'm committed. Whoa, like crazy. And when I went there, they made my family, so when I get into contact with Oregon and Chip Kelly, they didn't give us the roll out the red carpet treatment to go visit. They're like, you want to come up here on your dime

and come to this camp, we'll let you come in and we'll evaluate you. And as I get there, meeting with Chip Kelly and doing the whole deal that you do on a recruiting trip, I get to the, you know, we get to the football portion of it where we're going out on the field. And I jog out to where I'm supposed to go. And there's this kid sitting there, six, four Hawaiian kid.

And he's in line. I go, yo, what's up, bro? You playing receiver today? And he looks at me and he goes, I'm playing quarterback. And I remember in my head at that time, I'm like, I'm so fucked. I'm toast. This kid. So there was that initial reaction. And as we go through the drills, it's just like, boom, boom,

boom, boom, boom, boom. Two Heisman Trophy winners before it ever happens. Just, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. So good that when we got off the field that day, we both got offered at the same time at the same day. And I committed on the spot. There was no doubt that that's what I wanted to do. It had nothing to do.

They could have had five, six quarterbacks in that class. And they told us they were gonna take three because they needed death. So I knew that going into it and I committed anyway. So now, what about, you say you wanted to go to Texas but they didn't feel you was big enough to play the position so was it UT A&M were that were those the only Texas school that you were like considering? Frogs TCU okay loved them

took a visit there and had a buddy from high school that was going to school there and I went there I was like damn there's a lot of girls up here. And they party too, Johnny. They party. They party, he see you. Almost every year, number one party school in the. Go Frogs, I mean damn man, it was crazy. When I was in high school, I was like, this place is heaven on earth.

It's nice, it's clean, the girls, the football program. Damn, Johnny, you don't mention nice and clean and talk about girls and you ain't got the football yet. I at that point in time, I wasn't thinking about football, Shannon. I'm trying to go have a good time

in college. OK, I wanted to be like this mix of like entourage on HBO and like Blue Mountain State and all these things I was watching at the time and what I was ingrained in was this like I'm a party boy.

I just happened to be good at football a little bit at that time. My grind and focus and determination of the game didn't come in until I got into trouble before my Heisman year at A&M, June of 2012. It all kind of came to a halt when I got arrested. And I got arrested for going out to Northgate and College Station and drinking too much and blacking out and waking up in handcuffs. And when that instance happened,

it was this meeting with Coach Sumlin and my mom and my dad. And it was like, you either figure this out today or over the next couple of weeks. Your ass is out of here, gone. And then everything you work for, your scholarship, everything, you figure it out now. As my family sits there in the room and someone's looking at him, just like we're looking at each other right now,

he's like, you guys figure it out. And when that happened, my family moved to College Station. And they moved in my backyard. And I pretty much moved back in with my mom and my dad. And that was the moment that was like, all right, you hear what's going on. You're smart enough to comprehend this. You may be fucking around with your boys doing what you think you want to do,

but the opportunity that's in front of you, you are spoiling and you need to get it together. opportunity that's in front of you, you are spoiling and you need to get it together. And that's when George Whitfield came into my life. And I went, my mom sent me to San Diego with all the money they probably had saved up for their little saving stuff and sent me out there to work with this guy and they trusted him. And when I came back, I left before that trip and getting arrested, fourth on the depth chart below

the freshmen who came in below the two other guys that were above me in the class. 25 years, 25 players before training camp kickstarts a new NFL season. NFL Daily is going to look back. It is a special six episode series where myself, Greg Rosenthal and some of the top NFL minds like Kevin Harlan, Mina Kimes, and Bill Barnwell make the case for each player. We're taking a look back, giving you NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years. So who made the list? You know, Tom Brady's on it. Where's Patrick Mahomes? Mahomes is into the end zone. Touchdown, Kansas City.

He's on it. How about Lamar Jackson? Jackson takes it himself. Look at him. The Homes is into the end zone! Touchdown Kansas City! He's on it. How about Lamar Jackson? Jackson takes it himself. Look at him dart back and forth. Oh, he broke his ankles and he's got a touchdown. He is Houdini. You are going to have to listen to find out, listen to NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years, starting on June 30th on the iHeart radio

app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And 11 days when I got back and we started training camp, I was named the starter and handed the keys to the Texas A&M University football team. That's how much of a difference my focus and my passion and my energy being put into something turned out to be. If that situation you drank into the point of blacking out, do you remember anything about that night other than going to the bar or with your homies? I was taking Xanax back then. Um,

and it was a very like weird time in my life where I was dealing with anxiety and all these things and emotions that were going on that I didn't have any, you know, business being able to handle on my own. But from that country kid, proud and tough and all these things that I prided myself on, I wasn't asking for help. Right. Shannon, I didn't ask for help when I was sitting in Cleveland. Right.

Why am I going to do it when I'm in college? Right. So I was a lost kid trying to figure out like, you know, after my first year at A&M, when I redshirted, at the end of that year, I said, fuck this. I'm done playing football. I was finding out how to transfer to TCU to play baseball. That's how bad it was after my redshirt year.

Six and six, we're in the Big 12. I'm going to Ames, Iowa and all these like, that ain't the stadium that I wanted to be playing in. Right. And there's no disrespect to them whatsoever. The Big 12 is not the SEC. Right. And you see it now.

Only two of them schools in the Big 12 got into the SEC. Right. And you see it now. Only two of them schools in the big 12 got into the SEC. Four if you add Missouri and A&M. Only four of that whole thing really got in. So there's a difference in program. There's a difference in stature of dudes. Any team can beat a team on a given day. But consistency of a program and legacy, you know, there's only a couple teams that got into the SEC for a reason like that. Let's just say Johnny Manziel is a high school senior now. And Coach Prime is at CU. And Coach Prime comes down and talks to Johnny. And Johnny says, look, Johnny, man, with you, I see big things for you and the program.

And we need you to take us to the heights of where CU football can be. Would you be interested in playing for Coach Fry? Without a doubt. Me and him being Texas guys, you know, he's up and prospering. We've had a great relationship for years and I think looking back on our relationship now, he knew something special in me to the point of where he, you know, would interject in my life at times or send me a message or like really show love that he didn't have to do. And if I was a college kid looking now, I would say Texas A&M is the best school in the country. Right. That's a given. But number two, I would say Texas A&M is the best school in the country. Right.

That's a given. But number two, I would play for a man, for a guy who's a leader of men, for a guy who carries himself the way that Prime does. And without a doubt, I would sign my life. Look at it from a different perspective. If I was a father and my son was looking to go to play for a coach, I would absolutely without a doubt, unequivocally send them to Coach Brian. You said you played baseball from a very young age until you were about 14 or 15. How good

of a baseball player was Johnny Menzel? Really good. What position did you play? I played shortstop. I played middle and field. And I loved it. Like, it was it was it for me. I was a good oppo hitter. Like, I felt like I fielded the ball all right.

You know, I had a couple offers out there. I don't remember exactly what they were at the time, because football was so, you know, overshadowing everything in my life. But if you ask anybody that was around me from the time I was 12 to 16, they would say baseball was like, stick and play.

You played shortstop because you said Jeter was your favorite player, you wore the number two. So is that kind of how you tried to model your game? You do realize that like, Jeter was like pristine. What'd you game we talking about? The one off the field with the baskets and the love notes and everything he had?

Are we talking about El Capitan? He did a great job of like, you knew what he was doing, but you didn't really know what he was doing. But always if you know. You know, you know. So you modeled your game out after Jeter. So you modeled your game after Jeter, so you're like, okay, I'm gonna be a shortstop, I'm gonna be beloved because as you said.

Give me the pinstripes, man. That's what you want. I wanted the pinstripes. I wanted Yankee Stadium, the whole thing. So how good was your high school baseball team? High school baseball team was pretty good. We had a kid that was two years older than me by the name of Logan Vick. And he ended up committing to Baylor.

He was an all-state kind of guy, lefty, crazy power. When I played and got to varsity freshman and sophomore year, he played shortstop. So they kind of just plugged and played me wherever. And if he pitched, I took his position. But we kind of played off each other. And kind of when I was in high school and I saw him, how good he was, he was better than me. Right.

And he did things on the baseball field that I saw. On the da-da-da, da-da-da. He did that every day. And he hit some bombs that took out light poles and did the whole thing. He was that guy and when I saw him and where I was, I always thought I ain't gonna be that. I really truly was like, I'm good, but I ain't that. And I'll sit here today and give you the honest truth of what it is. So that was kind of like, all right, you got to go do all of this just to get a 50 60% of

your scholarship paid for. Get me on a gridiron. Right? You were I read you were selected by the Padres in the 28th round the 837th pick of 2014. So why didn't you just you know, you have to go but you could have said like, hey, I signed I mean, I've been pretty good on the resume like, hey, Padres took your boy. You know, but know, you have to go, but you could have said like, hey, I signed, I mean, I've been pretty good on the resume. Like, hey, Padres took your boy outside, you know, but I ain't feel like doing that play football. Sound like my dad.

My dad still to this day is like, you're gonna go back and maybe go to the Padres and play baseball or something? I'm like, pops, come on man, pump those brakes. But, but see you look at Kyler. Kyler was, I'm what, the eighth pick in the draft? Why do you think guys, a lot of guys choose football over baseball considering the money

that baseball players make? Shohei just got 7-hundred. Aaron Judge makes 40. We see what Mike Trout, and it's guaranteed. Why do you think guys choose, guys that are really good and can play both, choose football over baseball? Because this ain't all that runs the world. I can do the same with 700 as I can do with 50.

That ain't it for me. I'm not motivated by the money like that. So for me, it's about the rush. For me, it's about the thrill. Same thrill I got walking into a nightclub or partying or this or that. I've been a guy of thrills. And when you meet me in that A-Gap

or you meet me in the hole somewhere on a draw play and I mix you up so bad you're in a pretzel, like that rush to me, people trying to come after me and knock my head off and being able to get away and be slippery and do what I did best in college, that's what made me feel alive. That's what made me feel whole.

You graduated early in high school, enrolled in Texas City, and why did you feel you needed, did you feel you needed to do that or you were just trying to get away from your hometown? Like, man, I gotta get up out there. As far as enrolling early? Yeah. I saw the greats doing it.

I saw the good quarterbacks in every class were getting on campus early to figure it out. So I would say it's 50-50 on it. If I just wanted to get away from the fam and get my own car and be in my own apartment. And I was in a hurry to grow up. Which is what a lot of people do in life. And sitting back now, I realize that you should enjoy your time

from 12 to your 16, 17 years old. And it's only getting worse with NIL and what's going on in the world. People are treating 13, 14 year old kids like brands and businesses. And, you know, you see all these kids are social media and they're trying to make money. Like the love of the game is not about that. And now we're at the point where in college you're getting exposure to millions and millions of dollars and it's taken away the passion and the love

for what it truly is. If you would have handed me a million dollars in my freshman year when I got to A&M, you'd have seen some shit. And that's what- You might not have made your sophomore year, Johnny. I might not. I definitely wouldn't be sitting in New York

with that trophy, I promise you that. But you would have seen some shit for sure. When you had your visit to Texas A&M and you're walking around on campus and they normally have, they pull out their best, you know, the best ladies to show you around, they call them hostesses, and they show you around and you're walking around on campus and you look at her and you're like, yeah, I'm coming early. It's never about the girls for me back then really, to the max.

I've always been a guy that like rides for my dogs and I enjoy the time with my bros and just drinking and you know, smoking or doing whatever. Like that was always what it was for me. So when I went on my visit to Texas A&M, they stuck me with two of the biggest party boys on the whole team and they showed me the time of my life to the point where I'm in the back of the Uber,

and I'm sick. I had too many shots. I am lit off my ass. And I remember being in this Uber and being like, man, I gotta throw up. I cannot let these guys see any sign of weakness. So I just remember being like, all right, I'm gonna see you boys later. I'll see you in the morning and I don't even make it to my room I don't even make it back to the room

You know my family were in these joined rooms at this hotel and college station in Hilton And they wake up the next day and I'm just outside the door just And that to me I woke up the next day they're're kind of pushing me. I'm like, success. I'm alive. I'm good. And I'm sitting going to meet Coach Sherman at this taco place, Fuego. And I roll in by ten minutes late and he looks at me and I'm just white as a ghost. And Coach Sherman had been with Brett Favre and Green Bay.

He knew what was up. He knew what was up. He knew what was up. And he was so good that he was just like, he knew, he knew when he put me with them two dudes from San Antonio, who I looked up to, it was on. And he had me. I'm in the boat. I'm in the boat.

When you go back and you mention your freshman year, where did you think you redshirted? What was it about that? Was it not being able to play as much as you thought you would? What transpired in Johnny's mind that kind of led him down the path of where he was with headed? I just remember the first day going out to that first practice in the morning and you get like one rep is that like young kid right there early. This is spring practice. So you know all the guys are getting done with the season. Then you're in the spring and I get that one rep and he's like come back and I'm like seven

step drop and I let this ball go Shannon and it might have hit the top of the This thing, and I remember Coach Sherman had his play sheet and he threw it down and he goes, what the fuck was that? I'm nervous, these balls, Tannehill like these balls aired up like rock hard. I need that Brady. Yeah, you need a little, look. Give me a little cushion for the push. Yeah. And that, I's my confidence, man. I went from Mr. Mr. Football of Texas to getting in here and being like,

I don't throw it like Jamil Showers does. Right. The guy who was behind Tannehill. I don't throw it like him. That ball don't come out and it don't come out like that with me. So then you start to see and you're comparing yourself to other people and as that year went on, you know, being the bottom of the barrel guy, you know, being the guy that is getting ragged on by the seniors and this and I'm traveling like I'm quiet. I don't talk much. I kind of stay in my lane. I don't ask questions. I ain't trying to better myself at that point.

I'm just losing confidence week by week and just kind of like getting to the point where I'm like lost. Is football what I really like? And that question was in my life from that point on. Wow. So from that point on you always question was it the importance of football or Ability I was about to take is Johnny Does he possess the ability to be what many believe he could be so you had self doubt I had self doubt for sure and I had self doubt and I didn't get Self-assurance of myself and what I was as a football player until Cliff Kingsbury walked in my life.

And a funny story about Cliff Kingsbury that I tell to everybody, we've been locked in like this since the first day I ever met him. Kerrville, Texas is 40 miles an hour, you know, away from San Antonio. So Cliff Kingsbury is the University of Houston. We coach someone, has Case Keenum there, obviously. Another real Texas high school football legend. And 7 o'clock, our practice starts in Kerrville. We ran a very military drill style of football program

with values and a lot of what we talk about at Texas A&M was how my high school football program, right values and a lot of what we talk about at Texas A&M was how my high school football program was. So Kingsbury comes out in the field that first morning, and I'm getting ready to warm up and he comes up to me, he dabs me up and he goes, What's up, bro? I just want to keep it a buck with you. I don't have any scholarships to give you. But every single coach that I walk into a building in San Antonio, Texas said you need to get your ass in the car and come down here and watch

this kid practice so he goes that's exactly what I'm doing and I just want to let you know I'm here to watch you ball out for a practice and one day our pass will cross again and I'm nervous this is Cliff Kingsbury who played at Texas Tech this is another legend in my eye yeah yeah I can't live with a real guy yeah he wouldn't know whatever you want to say but he was him yeah at one who played at Texas Tech. This is another legend in my... Yeah, yeah. Had a lot of records. He was a real guy. He wouldn't know whatever you wanna say, but he was him at one point in time. And I didn't know the significance of what that talk

as a high school kid was gonna lead to being on a stage in New York four years later, three years later, but he kept it real with me like that. I was like, yo, I can't take you, but I'm here to watch you ball Wow and after that me and after the day to work out He just sitting over there on the side. He just gives me one of these like You crush that if you would have set out your entire season of the freshman. Do you think you would have learned your lesson? Oh No, I think it took me

Having the biggest fear of my entire life, failure, come to fruition. And failure wouldn't have happened for me if I didn't get to the success that I got. Does that make sense? Yes. Do you think they would have disciplined you? I think they could have. I think what I was doing in the off season

and what I was doing in my workouts and who I was is 25 years, 25 players. Before training camp kickstarts a new NFL season, NFL Daily is going to look back. It is a special six episode series where myself, Greg Rosenthal, and some of the top NFL minds like Kevin Harlan, Mina Kimes and Bill Barnwell make the case for each player. We're taking a look back, giving you NFL

Daly's top 25 players of the last 25 years. So who made the list? You know, Tom Brady's on it. Where's Patrick Mahomes? Mahomes is under the end zone. Touchdown, Kansas City. He's on it. How about Lamar Jackson? Jackson takes it himself. Look at him dart back and forth. Oh, he broke his ankles and he's got a touchdown. He is Houdini. You are going to have to listen to find out,

listen to NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years, starting on June 30th on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The team leader, right, coming back with the Heisman Trophy. They should have benched me. They should have suspended me. What I was doing, hey, you can't smoke weed. Ben, give me the fantasy, dude, give me the fantasy of what you got. Talk about it.

It's about a box of white out white grapes. We ain't even slowing down. Nothing over here. This is what we're doing. And like, from that, OK, so you win the Heisman. Yeah. We come back. We play Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl.

Smashing. Smack. OK, after that, that night after the game is the infamous sparklers in the mouth with the Dom and the Burberry scarf. Yeah! Right after. This is where like it starts and it's like we just smacked our old rival in the Big 12

in Jerry World in front of 105. Right. On New Year's Day. This is where the ego, this is where the, you know, this is where you shift from, you know, Johnny Manziel into Johnny football, the little transition. And then from there, it's Mr. It's Johnny football. Yeah. And now there's no more self doubt. Now there's no more self doubt

because I know what I'm doing in practice. I know what I'm doing when I see cover two and I'm like, whole shot. I'm toying with them in practice. They're mad. They, I mean, the only thing they have on me in practice and the setting that I'm toying with them in practice. They're mad. I mean, the only thing they have on me in practice in the setting that I'm seeing the live rep, bullets, fire, is they can't tell when a sack happens in practice

because we ain't sacking people. Right. And you know in a game, you know, practice, I'm running and give somebody a little move and I'm just looking at him like, there ain't no way you making that tackle on the field, buddy. You can hop and hoop around and do your whole defensive thing all you want. But you know, out there under them lights, that ain't gonna happen, brother.

It's not gonna happen. And that's not me speaking out of my ass. I got film. I got stuff to show you that I was more than what you thought I was, especially as a running quarterback. I'm glad that SEC. Wow. Fourteen hundred yards rushing in my freshman year. It's documented. The first freshman in NCAA history to pass for three thousand yards and carry and rush for a thousand yards in the same season. The first player to pass for three hundred yards and rush for a hundred the same game three times. Broke Archie Manning's 43-0 record for 520 yards of total offense with 576. Owns all these freshmen record.

11-2 ranked number five best since 1956. Beat Oklahoma 41-13 in the Cotton Bowl. Produced 516 yards of offense for touchdowns with a record 229 yards rushing. downs with a record 229 yards rushing. When you look, when you, do you understand at the time what you're actually doing? Um, when the ESPN Heisman List came out about week eight, nine, is when I started to kind of see like, whoa, because this is, you know, my life growing up, my boys was NCAA football, the video game, the road to glory, the road to the Heisman, creating a player and being able to go do these things, pick your

school, go to the, you know, do all of that. And now I'm living it. Right. So the focus doesn't shift to like getting the Heisman, it just focuses on like taking this team to heights that we haven't been before. And when you walk into Tuscaloosa, Alabama and do what happened that day, something that leaves a legacy, what, 2012, it's 2012 years later, where I walk down the street every day of my life and somebody comes up and dives me up and goes, 15 and a half point underdogs, Alabama, I'll never forget that day for the rest of my life that's what kind of impact that day had on college football and I hear it every day see it every day you see Alabama on the

schedule and you're on the Heisman watch list you mentioned your 15 point under dog that you understand what Alabama is that's coach Saban you know the the dogs that he has on that roster you know the dogs that he sends to the NFL every year multiple. What's going through your mind? Do you ever think, man, if I can go to Tuscaloosa and beat Bama, ooh, they got to take notice. Can't think like that. Can't think like that and be successful because you're putting pressure on yourself

that's unneeded. Okay. I got 95% of the country that's saying Alabama's going to beat us. What do we have to lose? Right? I remember being on the bus on the way to the game and putting on the movie 300. This part comes on where it's give to them nothing,

but take from them every single thing, everything. And that was my mindset going into the game. They're like, everybody in this stadium expects you to lose. Everybody in this state is rooting against you. We got maybe 20, 30 thousand loyal Aggies scattered through about in the stands. We already lost two games that year. Right. What's the third going to do? You know, we're out of the SEC title.

We're out of, you know, the national championship conversation. Let's just try and go ball. And Cliff Kingsbury put together an unbelievable game plan for us offensively that highlighted our strengths, that kept us from being too vulnerable on a defense like that. And for the first half of that game, they don't know what the fuck is going on. We're running option with go routes and all. We are just unleashing the Cliff Kingsbury

like creativeness of a football playbook for an air raid. This wasn't old Mike Leach air raid. This wasn't anything that Lincoln was doing wherever this was just its own subtle thing or own particular thing that was tailored to me being able to run the ball the way that I could as well as having an Unbelievable like offensive line to be able to handle what they were throwing us Luke Jokel Jake Matthews Cedric Aboya These are all first round picks in the NFL and some really really solid players, right?

Wow, I forgot you guys had that kind of offensive line Yeah, so that's why they were able to hold up Jokel was the number two pick in the draft I think Jake Matthews was a top 10 pick in the draft You guys were loaded Mike Evans swoops was very underrated Mike Evans and that's somebody that Man What a brother to me man, it makes me even emotionally even think about it We got to come in at the same time in red shirt.

And that red shirt year, we were tearing their ass up on the scout team. So much that I went to my locker one day later in the year and they took my red jersey so they couldn't hit me. And they put a black jersey on me to be able to smack me in practice because me and Mike were doing our game. We were doing our, we were starting that recipe of that pot. We were starting our we were starting that recipe of that pot We were starting to cook and then as that year goes on that redshirt freshman year that we play together you start to see a Kid who's like a man amongst boys out there and like really? 6-5 with that frame like he was always what he was

But that confidence that started growing him me and him had this telepathy. Same way you probably had with a quarterback back in the day where it's just like, that was a route. Right. Quick, easy. He knew everything. And me and him had that relationship that was like special, special. And it'll never be taken from us. You know, I can sit here and talk to him and still do the same signals this 12 years later I could throw a peace sign. He's gonna go to the crib right is what that means Every time so, you know to have a special bond with somebody like that that kid that guy that man Means if means the fucking world to me when Alabama started to come back You look at reporter you said F Alabama a, and that you were going to score.

Why were you so confident? Why? Because the crowd, the crowd had gotten back in it. They're going haywire defense. Just freshmen. Why were you so confident that you was going to get this football and you were going to go down the field and score? Yeah.

Well, the first, you know, half of that game, you know, first quarter we're up 20 to nothing, so that stadium, you could hear field and score. Yeah. Well the first, you know half of that game, you know first quarter We're up 20 to nothing. So that stadium you could hear a pin drop. Yeah, Tuscaloosa doesn't get like that very much if ever I mean you can count on both your hands how many times they've lost since 2010 for the most part. Yes So confidence and what we were doing, you know, our we lost our first game of the year to Florida Mm-hmm cool first game of the year to Florida. Mm-hmm Cool first game of the year, whatever Then we get up on LSU and we end up blowing that game where I feel like we really should have won That was our turning point in the season. After that we started to get together and come together that we didn't want to be

You know the weak link of this team We needed that offense and who we had to be the Catalyst to be the center point of that team and we needed that offense and who we had to be the catalyst, to be the center point of that team. And we needed our defense just to kind of hold on. So as much as the Tuscaloosa and the Alabama game is about me and the offense, it's not the way I look at it. Our defense got multiple stops, got a pick late on like the last drive is there on the eight yard line to go in and take the lead. That changes things. We get a pick, we get the ball out. And then there's 50 seconds left in the game. We are on like third and seven

Saban has a timeout. We run a run play we get like four we're backed up on our own 20. So it's punt time. Now we're going to punt it to who I mean, could have been I could have been a Mario Cooper whoever they had back there was a menace and we put this play in all week of a special teams punt scenario where we go on the hard count it's third and four we go hard count they jump we touch them touch them. First down, mic drop. So you have your offense, what we did in the first half. We scored 20 in the first quarter.

We only scored nine the rest of the game. We're hanging on for dear life. You know, the plays that we made on that one score drive, you know, the six points we scored in the second half, was off a turnover, wheel route down the sideline, dime, corner route, next play, dime. Two plays, touchdown, like very opportunistic and going with the flow of the game. And then you seal the game with a special teams play. So you got offense, defense, special teams. We walk into the locker room in Tuscaloosa and we burn that thing

down. Total team win. Total. Completely. Without a doubt, total team win. If they have the college football playoff in 2011, you guys have to, and A&M gets it, do you believe y'all win the national championship? We got to play Bama again probably, so that's another like knock it out. I think we have a very good chance. I think we got better and even from the Tuscaloosa game, the Alabama game up until the Cotton Bowl. The Cotton Bowl is our best showing of the entire year. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Y'all put it together. And we did and that's just where our like that was the pinnacle of what our team was that year and we showed it at

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but you go to New York for the Heisman ceremony, and you're up against Manta Teo, and did, and you know what transpired with all that situation, being catfished. Did did you guys did you guys talk to anything about that? So how how was he during that time amazing and his parents and family the way they were with my family You know, you'll see my dad and my mom and the videos that heisen ceremony with laser around their neck. So it was a very You know, we were close throughout that week, right? I thought his family was amazing.

I thought Manti was amazing, you know. I didn't know anything about whatever anything else was until later from the doc. And, you know, during those times, we even played against each other when I was in Cleveland and he was in San Diego, I think. So we always had a good relationship. You know, I always respected him for, you know, what he stood for and who he was as a person and who his family was. Right I'm going back and I'm looking at guys that have won the Heisman from the SEC you look at Joe Burrow, Cam Newton, Tim Tebow, Kyle LaMurray, Baker Mayfield

you were the first freshman to ever win it and you accumulated an SEC record then 4,600 yards of total offense. Where would you put yourself if we're having if we're having a college, and I'm not going to the NFL because obviously the guys with the prototypical size, but where would you think Johnny Manziel's Heisman Trophy season would rank among those guys? Behind Burrows.

Behind Burrows, but in front of Kams? No. What about? I would say for me, in my opinion, Joe Burrows is probably the best Heisman season to ever happen. And that's just like, look at the numbers. Yeah.

It's not even a comparison. For me, it's him and Barry. And the swagger and what he did it with. And I think it's a no-brainer. I think, yeah, agree. Him and Barry somewhere up there at the top, stand alone type of thing. Cam for me is of cultural importance and, you know, coming in from

blend junior college and going to Auburn. I remember that. And then they played the team organ that I was committed to at the time. So it leaves an impact and a memory on me. And I love Cam Newton to the max. Love what he stands for, love what he's about, love him to death and always have. He knows that. And so I think you go Joe Burrow, I think you go Cam and then I'm right below that. And I respect Bakers and Kylers and you can nitpick all this all you want because

at the end of the day it's all about getting to that stage in New York and getting that trophy. Now you're splitting hairs on who's greater than who and all collectively as a whole, we're fucking bad ass. This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listened to part one on.

Just simply go back to club Shae Shae Profile, and I'll see you there. Who are the 25 greatest football players to grace the gridiron since the year 2000, introducing NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years? Join me, Greg Rosenthal, and an all-star cast of media personalities, including Mina Keim, Steve Weisch, Kevin Harlan and more for a look at football's best since the turn of the century. Listen to NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years starting on June 30th on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.