John Pigskin Bro
I want to have a post about the most-talked about college
football player since number 15 was smoking fools in Gainsville. Johnny Manziel (I hate “Johnny
Football”). I don’t really want to get
into the HESHOULDGROWUPNOWANDSTOPRUININGTHEGAMEOFCOLLEGEFOOTBALL hot sports
take, (UPDATE…I DO)…
This was originally going to be a post strictly about John
on the football side, but he has had such a brotastic summer that I have to get
to his superstardom as well.
If you follow college football, you’ll notice a bunch of old
guys who think Johnny is an embarrassment and that they know how a college
superstar should live his life in college in 2013 that has nothing really to
worry about. Oh, and he’s a bro. Don’t forget about that part.
I think he is fantastic.
He’s not hurting anyone, he doesn’t have a gun or drugs or abusing women
or children. He’s living his life as the
highest profile bro in college football with 2 years experience in college. He is running the Ric Flair heel playbook to
a tee. He is a mix of Flair, Gronk, Beiber,
Tupac, Varsity Blues, and the Program all rolled up in 2013 where everything is
online and everyone has a phone and access and an opinion.
It did come out this week that his dad is “worried” about
his son and that he has been drinking to deal with the stress, and if that’s
true and not just a concerned parent in the moment, then it will get more
serious, but as of right now let the bro rock out in his world. Enjoy it.
Everyone in college, at one time or another, is a punk. Some dudes are punks and some dudes are punks
on the weekends when girls are watching.
Whatever, put down the haterade and enjoy the most flamboyant player in
college football since the Boz.
Now onto the football aspect…
I want to kind of predict a sophomore slump. I have a few reasons why I think not only
will Manziel not join Archie as the only two-time Heisman winners, but he may
not even be invited to New York in December.
The first thing I look to is what he lost from last year to
this year. He lost his o-cord Kingsbury
when he took the head job at his alma mater in Lubbok. Kings and Manziel looked and was the perfect
fit last year, taking the SEC by storm.
Sling it, run for your life and always keep your eyes open and up
field. Young QB, young coach and a Bret
Favre mindset led the Aggies to an 11 win season and the Heisman trophy.
Manziel also loses his left tackle, the 2nd
(should have been 1st, WTF) overall pick in the NFL. THAT IS A HUGE LOSS. The Aggies do have another tackle (nice
recruiting Fanchione) but when you lose a top NFL pick on your blindside, that
is something that cannot be replaced in one year.
Secondly, the SEC has a year of film. Also Alabama is pissed, and gets them early,
like 3rd week of the year early.
Granted the game will be in front of the 12th man, but
Alabama is pissed, we-lost-to-Auburn-last-year pissed. They also have the toughest teams on their
schedule outside of Bama on the road. At
Arkansas, Ole Miss, LSU and Mizzou.
Every one of those teams are going to be better than last year. Also, they are in the SEC West so winning
back-to-back double digit games is going to be a lot tougher than would be in
the ACC or Big Ten.
Lastly, last year he came from basically nowhere and balled
out against Florida, sending notice that there’s something magical happening in
College Station. Whatever he was doing
last summer, he isn’t doing this summer.
I’ll equate it to a second album after a huge debut. Things change, the hunger and drive and goals
change after you’ve surprised everyone and win a Grammy, or a Heisman in this
case. Things change and you’re now a big
deal and everyone wants a piece of you and everything you do is instantly
dissected. He couldn’t even take classes
on campus. Sometimes, the greats get
better, and sometimes after you’ve made it, you relax and take a step backward. It seems like he is living like a king and
doing what a 20-year-old superstar who is a total bro would do, but I don’t
know if it comes down to putting the work in like he had to last year just to
dress for road games, it is going to get done this year. It really looks like he’s got the “I’ve made
it” syndrome and that he’ll just have to show up and the Ws and yards and
touchdowns and Heismans will come. If he
does that in the SEC (or any major conference) and he’ll be lucky to start
every game healthy. Also, ALABAMA IS
PISSED.
The good parts? He
turns 21 in December (not that it will stop him from partying, but once he
turns 21, #ITSONLIKEDONKEYKONGBRO), the Texas A&M program is white hot
right now, he’s got the same head coach, relatively the same weapons as last
year in the same system, and after winning the Heisman he blew up Oklahoma in
the Cotton Bowl. The Bowl game showed me
that he may just show up like an xbox 99 guy and just play. But I seriously doubt Texas A&M will
return to a top 10 ranking and New Year’s Bowl.
With one foot out the door to the League, he’ll be looked at as a flash
in the pan after this year (which is weird given he would have only played for
2 years as opposed to 4 years like a Joe Hamilton who got worse as he got
older). As a college football guy, I
hope that’s not the case and that he is better than last year, keeps A&M in
the title discussion and has a chance to join Archie. No matter what, stay thirsty, bro. You’re college football’s Gronk, only if
Gronk was Kaepernick. And f*ck Mark May.
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