Johnny Manziel and his future
Cameras in his face and accompanied by Texas A&M officials, Johnny Manziel made his anticipated arrival Wednesday at SEC Media Days.
Manziel admitted his new-found fame as the first freshman quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy was more difficult than he imagined.
“The spotlight is 10 times brighter and 10 times hotter than I thought it was two months ago” – Manziel said.
“I guess I feel like Justin Bieber or something. I never thought it would really be that way.”
Johnny Manziel.
Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel caught a lot of media heat for exiting the 2013 Manning Passing Academy early because of dehydration.
The Texas A&M quarterback told ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Wednesday that his departure was unrelated to anything that happened the night before he missed a morning meeting.
“I made a mistake and didn’t wake up in time when I should have, and that’s pretty much the end of that” – Manziel said. “It was just simply my phone died. I overslept.”
Manziel refused to answer a direct question about drinking alcohol during his time at the camp.
“I’m not going into details about what happened at the Manning camp” – Manziel said. “We had social events every night.”
He insists he was “absolutely not” hung over when he missed the meeting that led to his early exit.
Although the 20-year-old has been criticized for partying too heavily, Manziel gave no indication that this incident will change his behavior.
Manziel (who spoke further with other media at the Wynfrey Hotel as part of the SEC’s unofficial annual preseason-kickoff event) was reported by some websites to have been sent home by Archie Manning from the passing camp for “partying.” But camp officials were adamant that those reports were inaccurate when speaking later to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
Manziel, for his part, said he was disappointed to leave the camp early and insisted his departure had nothing to do with alcohol or the previous night.
“There’s a lot of rumors out there, a lot of talk” – Manziel said. “I’ve been very eager to get a chance to share my side of the story. I missed a meeting. It wasn’t anything due to the night prior. … It was just simply my phone died, I overslept, I woke up the next morning whenever I did, went and talked to them and it was kind of a mutual decision to get home and get some time to relax.”
Manziel’s offseason had previously included a whirlwind of several high-profile destinations and events.
“It’s been lots of fun,” he told the media gathering. “I continue to meet people and do things that were on the bucket list. I got to go to Toronto, got to meet LeBron (James) for the second time and have more of a conversation. I got to go to Finals games. And I’m thankful my parents could go to those places – and I got to go to these camps and work with kids, the Elite 11 and the Manning Camp.”