Johnny Manziel

Jonathan Paul Manziel (man-zel; born December 6, 1992) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft. He was nationally recruited out of high school as a dual-threat quarterback. In 2012, Manziel debuted for the Texas A&M Aggies as a redshirt freshman in Kevin Sumlin's Air Raid offense during A&M's first season in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). He broke numerous NCAA Division I FBS and SEC records, which include becoming the first freshman and fifth player in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a season. At the end of the regular season, he became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, Manning Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award. Manziel capitalized on his redshirt freshman season by leading Texas A&M to a 41–13 victory over Oklahoma in the 2013 Cotton Bowl Classic.

TexAgs users tagged Manziel with the nickname "Johnny Football" during Manziel's sophomore high school football season in Texas. The nickname followed him to Texas A&M University and endures to now. He has applied to register the nickname as a trademark.

Despite not having played baseball since his junior year of high school, Manziel was drafted 837th overall in the 28th round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres. Manziel was officially listed as a shortstop, the position he played at Tivy High School.
Manziel was born in Tyler, Texas, on December 6, 1992, to Michelle (née Liberato) and Paul Manziel. He has a younger sister named Meri. Manziel's great-great-grandfather Joseph emigrated to the United States in 1883 from the Mount Lebanon region of Syria in what is now Lebanon. He is of Italian descent on his maternal side. His family became wealthy through the Texas petroleum industry.

Manziel grew up playing a variety of sports, including basketball, baseball, golf, and football. At Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas, he focused on baseball and football. However, it was in football that sportswriters, coaches, and parents said he "achieved folk hero status" and was compared to quarterbacks like Brett Favre, Michael Vick, and Drew Brees.

As a Texas Rangers fan growing up, Manziel was a middle infielder at Tivy High School before foregoing his baseball career in favor of football. He played baseball through his junior year, but he skipped out on his senior season so he could graduate early and focus on preparing for his freshman football season at Texas A&M. Manziel's passion for the game of baseball, however, did not diminish after high school. He briefly discussed the possibility of playing collegiate ball with Texas A&M's baseball coaches, but that never came to fruition once he won the starting quarterback job as a redshirt freshman.

In the 2014 Major League Baseball draft, Manziel was drafted in the 28th round (837th overall pick) by the San Diego Padres as a shortstop.
Manziel's marketing agency, LRMR, announced that it would no longer work with Manziel on January 6, 2016. Manziel's agent, Erik Burkhardt, also announced that he would no longer represent Manziel. On February 5, 2016, the Dallas Police Department announced that they are opening a criminal investigation with a claim of domestic violence involving his ex-girlfriend, Colleen Crowley.Dallas police had originally closed the case, but re-opened it with allegations stemming from an altercation on January 30, 2016, at a downtown Dallas hotel. According to Crowley, Manziel forced her into a car, pulled her by the hair, and threatened to kill both her and himself. On April 24, Manziel was indicted by a Dallas grand jury on misdemeanor assault charges for the incident.

On April 19, 2016, after just two months of representing him, agent Drew Rosenhaus terminated Manziel as a client, marking the first time in Rosenhaus' 27-year career he fired an NFL player. On the same day, Nike ended its relationship with Manziel.


Manziel is a Christian. Manziel is a friend of rap artist Drake and in April 2014, Drake released a track entitled "Draft Day", which includes a shoutout to Manziel.