Johnathan Paul Manziel ( ; born December 6, 1992) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for two seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Nicknamed "Johnny Football", he was the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, receiving the award with the Texas A&M Aggies in 2012. Manziel also played professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL), the Alliance of American Football (AAF), and Fan Controlled Football (FCF).
After being redshirted in 2011, Manziel became the Aggies' starter during his freshman season and set several FBS and SEC records en route to a victory in the 2013 Cotton Bowl Classic. In addition to winning the Heisman, he was the first freshman to receive the Manning and Davey O'Brien awards. He was also named SEC Male Athlete of the Year in 2013. Following his sophomore year, Manziel declared for the NFL.
Manziel was selected by the Browns in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft, but his tenure was marked by inconsistent play and off-field controversies, leading to his release ahead of the 2016 season. He pursued a comeback in 2018 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes of the CFL before being banned from the league the following year for violating his contract. Shortly after his CFL release, Manziel joined the Memphis Express of the AAF, appearing in two games until the AAF suspended operations. Manziel last played professionally in FCF for the Zappers from 2021 to 2022.
Early life 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 paternal great-great-grandfather Joseph immigrated to the United States, in 1907, from Lebanon and settled in Louisiana. He is of Italian descent on his maternal side.
Manziel grew up playing a variety of sports, including football, basketball, baseball, and golf. At Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas, he focused on baseball and football. However, in football, sportswriters, coaches, and parents said he "achieved folk hero status" and was compared to quarterbacks like Brett Favre, Michael Vick, and Drew Brees.
High school At Tivy High School, Manziel played high school football for four years, beginning with the freshman team in his first year. By the end of his first season, he played with the varsity team as a receiver. He began his sophomore year primarily as a receiver, but started the fourth game at quarterback. He shared that position for the remainder of the season, finishing with 1,164 yards passing, 806 rushing and 408 receiving for a combined 28 touchdowns. His junior year was his first as starting quarterback, and he completed that season with 2,903 passing yards, 1,544 rushing yards, 152 receiving yards and 55 touchdowns. That year, he was voted All-San Antonio Area Offensive Player of the Year as well as District 27-4A MVP.
During Manziel's senior season, he compiled 228-of-347 (65.7%) passing for 3,609 yards with 45 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also had 170 carries for 1,674 yards and 30 touchdowns. He had one touchdown reception and returned a kickoff for a touchdown for a combined 77 touchdowns. That year, he was honored as District 28-4A MVP (unanimous selection), Class 4A First-team All-State (AP), San Antonio Express-News Offensive Player of the Year (second year in a row), the Associated Press (AP) Sports Editors Texas Player of the Year, Sub-5A First-team All-Area (SA Express-News), No. 1 QB in Texas by Dave Campbell's Texas Football, DCTF Top 300, PrepStar All-Region and Super Prep All-Region.
For Manziel's three years as a starter, he completed 520-of-819 passes (63.5%) for 7,626 yards and 76 touchdowns, rushed 531 times for 4,045 yards and 77 touchdowns and caught 30 passes for 582 yards and another five touchdowns. He was the only quarterback in America named as a Parade All-American his senior year, and he was also named The National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) Senior Athlete of the Year in football. He won the Mr. Texas Football award in 2010.
Manziel was highly recruited out of high school; in addition to Texas A&M, he received offers from Baylor, Colorado State, Iowa State, Louisiana Tech, Oregon, Rice, Stanford, Tulsa, and Wyoming. Although he grew up a Texas Longhorns fan, the University of Texas did not recruit him. Although it was rumored that Texas wanted Manziel at defensive back, Texas coach Mack Brown said the rumor was not true. Though Manziel originally committed to play for Oregon, he later changed his commitment to the Aggies, thanks to the influence of then-quarterbacks coach Tom Rossley.
High school statistics Year Team 2008 Tivy 74 120 61.7% 1,109 11 5 123 835 6.8 15 2009 Tivy 211 349 60.5% 2,782 19 5 232 1,529 6.6 33 2010 Tivy 228 347 65.7% 3,609 45 5 170 1,674 9.8 30 Total 513 816 62.9% 7,500 75 15 525 4,038 7.3 78
Manziel was named to the NUC All World Game (started by David Schuman and National Underclassmen Combine) in 2010 where he rushed for over 100 yards and threw for over 200. It was the first time Manziel dominated on a national stage. He played in the game as a teammate with Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota.
College career
Manziel received an athletic scholarship to attend Texas A&M University, where he attended under coach Mike Sherman in 2011 and played for new coach Kevin Sumlin from 2012 to 2013.
Manziel was redshirted during the 2011 season and did not play in any games. He made the travel squad after enrolling with the college in January.
2012 season Texas A&M faced uncertainty at the quarterback position when Ryan Tannehill left for the National Football League after the 2011 season.
On June 29, 2012, Manziel was arrested and charged with three misdemeanors: disorderly conduct, failure to produce identification, and possession of a fictitious driver's license. These charges stemmed from a late-night fight in College Station, Texas. Police reports stated that Manziel was with a friend who directed a racial slur at a man on the street. The man then approached the two of them and tried to get at the friend, but Manziel placed himself between the two men, saying his friend didn't mean it and he was going to take him home. The man continued pushing against Manziel to reach the other man, and Manziel eventually pushed back. At this point, the man swung at Manziel who then began fighting back. Shortly afterwards, the bicycle patrol officers arrived. Manziel was 19 at the time, and he presented to police officers a fake Louisiana driver's license that showed him to be 21 years of age. Manziel was taken into custody and reportedly spent the night in jail.
Manziel, after performing well during spring ball and fall practices, won the starting job over Jameill Showers and Matt Joeckel before the season began. His first game was supposed to be against Louisiana Tech in Shreveport, Louisiana on Thursday, August 30, 2012, but the game was postponed until October 13 due to Hurricane Isaac hitting the Louisiana coast two days prior to game time. Consequently, Manziel's college football debut was played as a redshirt freshman against the Florida Gators before a home crowd at Kyle Field.
Although Manziel began the season in relative obscurity, his play against Arkansas in which he broke Archie Manning's 43-year-old total offense record gained him some attention. Manziel produced 557 yards of total offense, breaking Manning's record of 540. Two games later, Manziel surpassed his own total offense record against No. 24 Louisiana Tech by achieving 576 yards of total offense, becoming the first player in Southeastern Conference (SEC) history to have two 500+ total offense games in one season. After Texas A&M's blowout of Auburn in the eighth game of the season, in which Manziel accounted for three passing and two rushing touchdowns through only the first half plus one series in the second, Manziel began showing up in national Heisman Watch lists.
Manziel was launched into the national scene after he led Texas A&M to a 29–24 victory over No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In that game, Manziel accounted for 345 of A&M's 418 yards of offense, including two passing touchdowns. In the following days, Manziel became the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy in most national watch lists and polls due to his performance during the game combined with other Heisman frontrunners faltering.
On November 24, during the game against the Missouri Tigers before a home crowd, Manziel left the game with an apparent knee injury late in the first quarter. He returned to the field for the next series of downs wearing a knee brace and finished the game with 439 yards of total offense, including three passing and two rushing touchdowns. During the game, he broke the single-season record for offensive production in the SEC with 4,600 yards, surpassing Cam Newton and Tim Tebow, notable recent Heisman Trophy winners. He also became the first freshman and only the fifth player in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 and rush for 1,000 yards in a season, reaching that mark two games earlier than any other player. He won the SEC Freshman of the Year Award and College Football Performance National Freshman of the Year Award. Manziel won the Davey O'Brien Award on December 6 and the Heisman Trophy on December 8, making him the first freshman ever to win either award.
2013 season During the 2013 offseason at Texas A&M, Manziel drew significant media attention over his behavior off the field. Notable incidents include his early departure from the Manning Passing Academy after allegedly oversleeping, tweeting that he "can't wait to leave College Station" after receiving a parking ticket, and getting kicked out of a University of Texas fraternity party. An ESPN The Magazine article revealed his parents' concerns about his dealings with his newfound stardom. In July 2013, he pleaded guilty to failure to produce identification stemming from the June 2012 arrest, and the other two charges were dismissed.
On August 4, ESPN reported that the NCAA was investigating whether Manziel accepted payments for autographs that he had signed in January 2013. The NCAA did not find any evidence that Manziel accepted money for the autographs, but reached an agreement with Texas A&M to suspend him for the first half of the season opener against Rice University, due to an "inadvertent violation" of NCAA rules.
Texas A&M started the 2013 season with a No. 6 ranking in the Coaches Poll. Prior to the season, some journalists argued that Manziel could suffer a sophomore slump, while others felt that he would continue to have success.
After serving his suspension in the first half of the opener against the Rice Owls, Manziel came off the bench in the second half and threw for three touchdowns to help the Aggies win 52–31. However, after his last touchdown pass, he was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting Rice players and was subsequently benched by head coach Kevin Sumlin. This action led to high backlash from the media and ESPN analysts over his egotistical behavior, with some calling him a "detriment" to his football team.
In the game against No. 1 Alabama, Manziel threw for a school record of 464 yards and five touchdowns in the 49–42 loss. His primary target during the game was Mike Evans, who compiled seven receptions for a school record of 279 yards. In the 51–41 win over Mississippi State, Manziel tied his single-game career-high five touchdowns, while also throwing for 446 yards but with three interceptions. He led the Aggies to an 8–4 mark in the regular season. In his final collegiate game, he had 382 yards, four passing touchdowns, and one rushing touchdown in the 52–48 win over Duke in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. He helped lead the Aggies to a comeback from a 38–17 halftime deficit. He was fifth in Heisman Trophy voting in 2013.
Manziel was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame in September 2022.