Club Shay Shay - Johnny Manziel Part 1 REWIND

Summary

Club Shay Shay - Johnny Manziel Part 1 REWIND

Release Date: July 9, 2025 | Host: Shannon Sharpe

In this compelling episode of Club Shay Shay, NFL legend Shannon Sharpe engages in an in-depth conversation with former NFL quarterback and Texas football phenom, Johnny Manziel. The discussion delves into Manziel's illustrious yet tumultuous career, Sharpe's personal journey in college football, and the intricate dynamics of athletic mentorship and program management.

---

1. Introduction to Johnny Manziel

Timestamp: [02:45]

Shannon Sharpe introduces Johnny Manziel as one of the most polarizing yet talented college athletes in football history:

"One of the most polarizing college athletes ever... the first freshman to ever win the Heisman Trophy. A rock star quarterback, a larger than life persona."
[Shannon Sharpe, 02:45]

Manziel's early meteoric rise is acknowledged, highlighting his induction into the Texas A&M Hall of Fame and his significant impact on Texas football.

---

2. Early Life and Upbringing

Timestamp: [19:21] - [29:53]

Shannon Sharpe shares his personal background, detailing his upbringing in Tyler, Texas, before moving to Kerrville at age 13:

"I was raised the proper way... we were a Christian family. Sundays were our day for family golf outings."
[Shannon Sharpe, 24:49]

The abrupt move to Kerrville marked a significant turning point, fostering a tougher persona as Sharpe navigated new social dynamics and academic pressures.

---

3. Transition from Baseball to Football

Timestamp: [34:07] - [36:05]

Initially a passionate baseball player inspired by Derek Jeter, Sharpe experienced burnout by his mid-teens:

"By the time I got to high school, I was just burnt out of it. Football started to come into my life."
[Shannon Sharpe, 23:46]

This shift was influenced by growing family pressures and the challenging environment of Texas high school football, where Sharpe faced skepticism about his size for a quarterback.

---

4. College Recruitment and Decision-Making

Timestamp: [35:57] - [38:30]

Discussing the recruitment process, Sharpe reflects on his decision to commit to Texas A&M despite initial doubts regarding his size:

"They wanted me to play safety... I didn't believe in myself that I was a quarterback until I met George Whitfield."
[Shannon Sharpe, 33:42]

The conversation touches on the allure of various universities, the influence of coaches like Kevin Sumlin, and the pivotal moments that shaped his collegiate trajectory.

---

5. Overcoming Challenges and Personal Growth

Timestamp: [31:19] - [43:53]

Sharpe candidly discusses his struggles during college, including arrests and personal setbacks:

"This was when the sneaking and the drinking, and this is where it all kind of starts to unravel a little bit."
[Shannon Sharpe, 29:53]

A turning point emerges with the intervention of George Whitfield, leading Sharpe to refocus his efforts and ultimately secure the starting quarterback position at Texas A&M.

---

6. The Heisman Season and Cotton Bowl Triumph

Timestamp: [61:11] - [73:15]

Sharpe vividly recounts the 2012 season, culminating in a landmark victory against Alabama in the Cotton Bowl:

"We scored 20 in the first quarter... It's the pinnacle of what our team was that year."
[Shannon Sharpe, 65:37]

He details the strategic innovations introduced by Coach Cliff Kingsbury and the robust performance of the offensive line, highlighting teammates like Mike Evans and Jake Matthews who later became NFL first-round picks.

---

7. Reflections and Legacy

Timestamp: [73:15] - End

In reflecting on his achievements and comparing himself to other SEC Heisman winners, Sharpe positions his Heisman-winning season among the elite:

"Joe Burrow is probably the best Heisman season to ever happen... Cam Newton is of cultural importance."
[Shannon Sharpe, 73:15]

He emphasizes the importance of team synergy and personal growth, asserting that his journey—marked by both triumphs and failures—shaped him into the person he is today.

---

Notable Quotes

• [Shannon Sharpe, 05:56]: "There's something in the water."

• [Shannon Sharpe, 19:21]: "Johnny Manziel was a really good kid, you know, up until the time I probably got my driver's license."

• [Shannon Sharpe, 33:42]: "I didn’t believe in myself that I was a quarterback until I met George Whitfield."

• [Shannon Sharpe, 65:37]: "We scored 20 in the first quarter, Tuscaloosa doesn't get like that very much."

---

Conclusion

This episode of Club Shay Shay offers a deep dive into the complexities of athletic success and personal struggles. Shannon Sharpe's honest and introspective dialogue with Johnny Manziel provides listeners with valuable insights into the pressures of college football, the importance of mentorship, and the resilience required to overcome adversity. Through their shared experiences, both athletes underscore the multifaceted nature of sportsmanship and personal development.

---

For those eager to continue the conversation, Part 2 of this episode is available on all major podcast platforms.

Transcript

[Shannon Sharpe]

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[DJ Wells]

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[Johnny Manziel]

Please welcome aboard the Johnson family. The whole fam's here for the Disney Cruise. So you know we came to play. And listen, the adults are gonna have a ball. First we're chilling in the infinity pool, onto massages at Sense's Spa. Then gliding into Star Wars Hyperspace Lounge for a toast. We're even gonna kick back with Mickey on Disney's private island. That's how. Cause Disney Cruise Line is where we came to play. There are people saying Johnny Manziel will be bigger than LeBron James in Cleveland.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I think that person is Skip Bayless. All my life been grinding all my.

[Johnny Manziel]

Life Sacrifice hustle paid the price Want.

[Shannon Sharpe]

A slice, got to roll a dice.

[DJ Wells]

That'S why all my life I be.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Grinding all my life all my life.

[Johnny Manziel]

Been grinding all my life Sacrifice hustle paid the price Want a slice, got to roll a dice hello. Welcome to another episode of Club Shay Shay. I am your host, Shannon Sharpe. I'm also the proprietor of Club Shay Shay. 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 and 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 Manziel.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What's up baby bro?

[Johnny Manziel]

How you doing?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Thanks for having me.

[Johnny Manziel]

Thank you for having me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Long time coming, man.

[Johnny Manziel]

Thank you, bro. I don't want to toast. I know you don't drink anymore. You don't drink anymore.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right, right. Right now I'm in a way don't want to toast with water, but nevertheless, nah, bro.

[Johnny Manziel]

Appreciate it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I appreciate the offer.

[Johnny Manziel]

I appreciate you stopping by.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. Long time, long time coming, you know.

[Johnny Manziel]

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[Johnny Manziel]

I'm trying to figure out what's in the Texas water you get Patrick Mahomes, Drew Brees, Matthew Stafford, Andrew Luck, Kyler Murray, Vince Young, Nick Foles, RG3 Ryan, Tania Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts. What the hell are they feeding them? What are they drinking in Texas to produce these type quarterbacks?

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 name. That's our current, you know, recent guys that you see. But you can take it back. You know, there were guys that you see in the NFL. Let's, let's give you a great example. Andy Dalton.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

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, long time. And I think it comes down to this, that Texas high school football is a way of life. You know, 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. 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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, right? And it's just a great state for football. I mean, 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Do. 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?

[Shannon Sharpe]

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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He won it 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Did you ever see any of those guys play high school football or just watch them on when the highlights came on television?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I would say I watched Kyler's career, probably the closest.

[Johnny Manziel]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I had a huge hand in getting him to Texas A and M, right. 2012 and 13. Whenever I was at A and M, I saw this kid and I had known his dad, obviously a legendary quarterback at Texas A and M in his own right. But 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Player, not just quarterback player ever in.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The state of Texas.

[Johnny Manziel]

Wow.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I think he lost. I don't know if he lost a game. Maybe one.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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. From the top of the tip to the bottom and from east to west.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right. Well, what happened? Why wasn't Texas A and M able to keep him?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know, I have my opinion on this and one that I think is very correct in the fact that that same time we signed two five star quarterbacks. So we had Kyler Murray and Kyle Allen in that same class.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They played this game of back and forth and not like 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, right? You mold these guys into what you want them to be. When I went to college, my dad shook 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, someone lost a little bit of what he was originally there to do, right? 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's to be said has to deal with Kyle Allen as well.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I think he made it very difficult behind the scenes for what people didn't know to just give Kyler the keys. And you know, in my opinion, 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

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 sec. 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.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Boom. Right there in front of your face. I worked my ass off behind the scenes to get Kyler Murray to Texas A and 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. How 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. 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. 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

But when you watch Kyle 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, hold on. We let that guy walk out the door. We hold on. And then I. I think he'd have been successful in an offense, obviously with. With. With the head coach they had at Oklahoma. I think, yeah, USC now. Lincoln, Lincoln Riley. And I think Cliff was it, Yo, Lincoln. Lincoln Riley. And you saying, like, well, I don't really care what system it 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, kind of discounted him. Maybe Texas A and 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.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did they not just learn it with me? Did they not watch the 511 guy come and Rock the world and put it on fire.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

They believed in me, and that came from Kliff, 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 Spavital 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. You know, I went back to games. You know, I went and wanted to see Kyler and the mesh and the field just, like, wasn't there for cohesiveness. And, you know, I remember talking to Jake about it and him just kind of being like. I remember him saying this, that it's like, kind of out of my hands, that it was, like, above the offensive coordinator's pay grade.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Which only leaves one person left, Head coach. That's all it leaves.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So whether it was, you know, I'm speculating, but at the end of the day, that's what I was told of what it was.

[Johnny Manziel]

What was your relationship like with Kevin Sumlin?

[Shannon Sharpe]

My relationship with Kevin Sumlin 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 telling me what I should do? Obviously, my coach, my guy. I'm looking up to my head. Football coach is telling me to live a certain. Put all this party and this behind you. But if you know anything about Kevin Summons, what he's doing behind the scenes.

[Johnny Manziel]

Oh, he's partying, too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So from behind, from my eyes.

[Johnny Manziel]

So you say I'm hypocritical. We party together. What?

[Shannon Sharpe]

We're a 40, 40 club in New York.

[Johnny Manziel]

Oh, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 I do not sit here today as a. A man, a judge of a person who helped get me to the point of where I wanted to be in life. By no means whatsoever. I'm calling a spade a spade.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

And I'm just going to be and give the God's honest truth as what I know it to be right. That ruffles some feathers. So be it, right? It's the way the world goes.

[Johnny Manziel]

Are you surprised that he hasn't got a head coaching job? No. You're not surprised? Why?

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 don't 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 when they 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 happened when I left. All right, I'm leaving to go 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 going to stay. And I found this out five years later from my dad. But my dad went and had a meeting with Kevin Sutland and pretty much went to him man to man, and was like, we'll take 3 million bucks and we'll stay for the next two years. And my dad says this is true 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, right? 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, right? 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, 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 win our first five games of the year. We're 5 and 0. We're top 10 in the country. I ain't getting no love in the program.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah, cuz I'm thinking, I, I remember hearing it and they talking about Johnny who, who? Because he had. He. I think he.

[Shannon Sharpe]

South Carolina. Five touchdowns, first game of the season.

[Johnny Manziel]

Okay, okay, so you, you, you remember hearing it also. So hold on. I want to make sure I got a backtrack.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, back it up.

[Johnny Manziel]

You said your dad went to Kevin Sumner? Yep. And says for $3 million we're staying for two more. Now, you do realize this is prior to nil.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I agree.

[Johnny Manziel]

This folks, this whole this is a.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Back room deal went on for 30, 40 years before it was. Same way that was happening when you was getting recruited back in the day.

[Johnny Manziel]

And you guys, you know Texas A and M got money for. I mean, Texas. Ain't nobody got nobody like Texas A. Y' all got the big dogs.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Aggie ring, baby.

[Johnny Manziel]

Y' all got the big dogs. And so $3 million. If he had gone to any of the boosters and said, you know what done Johnny dad said he'll stay for an additional two years if we just break him off three meals.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Just keep it in cash, throw it somewhere. We'll get it later. We don't need it right now.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But for my security, if something happens for two years down the road.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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, right? There was a bag man. There was a bag man at lsu. There was a bag Manabama. 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

If I could. 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?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Kyler Murray is. Is for sure. Andrew Luck was really, really, really good. Okay, who else, man? Who else? RG3 is up there for sure. You can't leave RG3 off that. Listen, and then. Oh, man, tough by.

[Johnny Manziel]

You got bench young tough.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, you can't. 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 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, man, 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 a Heisman. I think you have to throw Baker in there for winning the Heisman. So you got what, three Heisman Trophy winners and Stafford. Yep, pretty good.

[Johnny Manziel]

And your goat is Kyler.

[Shannon Sharpe]

To me. To me. And he's younger than me.

[Johnny Manziel]

Wow, that's. So let me ask you this, Johnny. Your upbringing, what was your upbringing like? And what type of kid was Johnny Manziel?

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 8 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 believe at that point in time. But 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 traveling 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.

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[DJ Wells]

Yo, this is DJ Wells from Club 520 podcast Draft Night ain't just about who goes number one. It's about how you show up. And JD Sports is where the future of the league gets laced up. Whether it's Dylan Harper's tenacious two way play or Trey Johnson sharpshooting from deep down south, JD's got the gear to match every draft story. From exclusive kicks to player collabs, JD Sports is the plug for the next level style. So while the league's getting younger, your fix getting fresher. JD sports with the game meets the streets. Visit jdsports.com to check out their new collection or download the JD app today.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 of it. 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 this 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 for my Aggies. But like, it is what it is. And I remember this Christmas day 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

When you say you were a good kid, good kid by 90% of America or good kid just for Johnny Manziel?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Good kid by 100% of America. 90% 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. We were a Christian family. We went to church on Sundays. Sundays were our day for 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. 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Okay, Earl Campbell, the Tyler.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Two Heisman trophy winners in the same town. The 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 a 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 my attitude, a little bit more this country place where I felt like I had to, you know, I 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 came a new like growth as a 15 year old, 14 year old kid in life. And I remember that shift like it was yesterday.

[Johnny Manziel]

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.

[Shannon Sharpe]

None. None came in one day and just that was it. We got in the car, we went, and that was it. Never heard of. Never heard a conversation, Never heard a talk. Never really got a reason, Nothing. We were just doing it. And as I know now, you know, 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know, the car business for him was a six day a week, six in the morning till 8pm 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 them 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 them, 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. This is what I hear and what I was hearing as a kid.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's what I would hear when I was in elementary school. Oh, you're a Manziel. 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

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 6am in the morning and he came home at 8pm 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?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I wouldn't say it was resentment. I would say there was 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. And my mom is a rock, right? 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, you know, for a long time, this is where me and my dad, around this time, just started butting heads. And then this is where the. This is where the sneak. You know, 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

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?

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, I. 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. It's a hypothetical type of situation. Hard for me to answer. But I know now all of 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 lived 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 at 22. 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 my dreams were completely accomplished, almost.

[Johnny Manziel]

Wow.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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.

[Johnny Manziel]

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, say, Johnny, you just too small, son?

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 it. Safety, safety, safety me. Ain't got a lot of white safeties out there, Shannon.

[Johnny Manziel]

No, no, no, they don't. They don't. So. But I think I'm thinking, like, hold on. If he's too small to play, if he's 5 11. How much you weigh coming out of high school?

[Shannon Sharpe]

173 pounds. 175.

[Johnny Manziel]

But they. They didn't think you could play quarterback because of that size, but they felt you'd be perfect for safety.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Okay, you were an athlete.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I was just wanting to play football, right? I played receiver. I played running back in high school. I played anything that I could play to get on the field and be with my dogs.

[Johnny Manziel]

I'm looking at you. In your high school career, you passed over 7,600 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 now, 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.

[Shannon Sharpe]

If you're from North Dakota, baby, maybe.

[Johnny Manziel]

When 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.

[Shannon Sharpe]

If 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 an immediate 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?

[Johnny Manziel]

I'm looking at the schools. Oregon, Rice, Stanford, Iowa State, Baylor, csu, Colorado State, Louisiana Tech, Tulsa, Wyoming, and Texas A and M. And it says, I read that you said that you decommitted from Oregon because they had Marcus Mariota. And you didn't feel confident enough in yourself that you could beat him out or you get an opportunity to play.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I didn't go to Oregon. Not anything that had to do with Marcus.

[Johnny Manziel]

They had some really nice unis.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That was the reason I wanted to go. 2011, I think, was 2010. Cam Newton, Auburn year they played Michael James and the Ducks and the Fiesta bowl for the national championship. Those jerseys coming out, I'm committed.

[Johnny Manziel]

Whoo.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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, you know, 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, now I'm playing quarterback. And I remember in my head at that time, I'm like, I'm so. 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Just.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 going to take three because they needed Deb.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So I knew that going into it, and I committed anyway.

[Johnny Manziel]

Oh, so now you. What about. You said 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?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Frogs. Tcu.

[Johnny Manziel]

Tcu. Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Love them.

[Johnny Manziel]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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.

[Johnny Manziel]

And they party too, John. If they part tcu almost every year, number one party School in Go Frogs.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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, they're in a damn Johnny.

[Johnny Manziel]

You don't mention nice and clean and talk about girls, and you ain't got the football yet.

[Shannon Sharpe]

At that point in time, I wasn't thinking about football. Shannon. I'm trying to go have a good time in college.

[Johnny Manziel]

Okay?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay. 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 just like, I'm a party boy, right? I just happened to be good at football a little bit at that time. You know, My grind and focus and determination of the game didn't come in until I got into trouble before my Heisman year at A and M. Right. 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 weeks or your ass is out of here. You're 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. 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 around with your boys and 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. 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 freshman who came in, below the two other guys that were above me in the class.

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[DJ Wells]

Yo, this is DJ Wells from Club 520 podcast Draft Night ain't just about who goes number one. It's about how you show up. And JD Sports is where the future of the league gets laced up. Whether it's Dylan Harper's tenacious two way play or Trey Johnson, sharpshooter from deep down south, JD's got the gear to match every draft story. From exclusive kicks to player collabs, JD Sports is the plug for the next level style. So while the league's getting younger, your fix getting fresher. JD sports with the game meets the streets. Visit jdsports.com to check out their new collection or download the JD app today.

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[Shannon Sharpe]

And in 11 days when I got back and we started training camp, I was named the starter and handed the keys to the Texas A and 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

If that situation you drinking to the point of blacking out, do you remember anything about that Night, other than going to the bar with your homies.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I was taking Xanax back then. 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. 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 and M, when I red shirted 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 red shirt 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And there's no disrespect to them whatsoever. The Big 12 is not the SEC.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And you will. You see it now. Only two of them schools in the Big 12 got into the SEC.

[Washablesofas]

Four.

[Shannon Sharpe]

If you add Missouri and A&M, only four. 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Let's just say Johnny Manziel is a high school senior now and Coach prime is at cu. And Coach prime comes sit, comes down and talk to. And Johnny said, 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 Bryant?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Without a doubt. Me and him being Texas guys, you know, he's up in prosper. 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 and M is the best school in the country.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right? Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's a given but number two, I would play for a man, for a guy who's a leader, I'm in for a guy who carries himself the way that prime does. And without a doubt, I would sign my life. And if. 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 Prime.

[Johnny Manziel]

You said you played baseball from a very young age until you're about 14 or 15. How good of a baseball player was Johnny Manziel?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Really good.

[Johnny Manziel]

What position did you play?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Played shortstop.

[Johnny Manziel]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I played middle infield, 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, they can play.

[Johnny Manziel]

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.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Which game we talking about? The one off the field with the baskets and the love notes and everything he had. Are we talking about the. Are we talking about El Capita?

[Johnny Manziel]

He did a great job of, like, you knew what he was doing, but you didn't really know what he was doing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But always if, you know, you know.

[Johnny Manziel]

You know, you know. So you modeled your game. You modeled your game out after Jeter. So you. You like, okay, I'm gonna be a shortstop. I'm gonna be beloved because.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Gimme the pinstripes, man. I wanted the pinstripes. I wanted Yankee Stadium, the whole thing.

[Johnny Manziel]

So how good was your college, your high school baseball team?

[Shannon Sharpe]

High school baseball team was pretty good. We had a kid that was two years older than me by the name of Logan Vick.

[Johnny Manziel]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And he ended up committing to Baylor. He was a 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. 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 a baseball field that I saw on the DA.

[Johnny Manziel]

Na Na, na, na, na.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, 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 going to be that.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Like, I really, truly was like he.

[Johnny Manziel]

And I'm good, but I ain't.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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.

[Johnny Manziel]

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 didn't 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. I signed. You know, but I ain't feel like doing it. I play football.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Sound like my dad. My dad still to this day is like, you gonna go back and maybe go to the Padres and play baseball or something? I'm like, pops, come on, man, pump those brakes.

[Johnny Manziel]

But see, you look at Kyler. Kyler was 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 700. 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?

[Shannon Sharpe]

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.

[Johnny Manziel]

You graduated early in high school, enrolled in Texas A and M. Why did you feel you needed did you feel you needed to do that or you was just trying to get away from your hometown? Like, man, I gotta get off.

[Shannon Sharpe]

As far as enrolling early. Yeah, 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 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 or 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

If you would have handed me a million dollars in my freshman year when I got to A and M, you'd have seen some shit.

[Johnny Manziel]

You might not have made your sophomore year, Johnny.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I might not. I definitely wouldn't be sitting in your with that trophy, I promise you that. But you would have seen some shit for sure.

[Johnny Manziel]

When you had your visit to Texas A and M and you 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 walking around on campus and you looking around you like, yeah, I'm coming early.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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, know, smoking or doing whatever. Like, that was always what it was for me. So when I went on my visit to Texas A and 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 of where I'm in the back of the Uber and I'm. I'm sick. Like, 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 kind of pushing me. I'm like, success.

[Johnny Manziel]

I'm alive.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I am good. And I'm sitting, going to meet Coach Sherman at this taco place Fue. And I roll in probably 10 minutes late. And he looks at me and I'm just white as a ghost. And Coach Sherman had been with Brett Favre in Green Bay. He knew what he knew. 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. I'm in the boat. I'm in the boat.

[Johnny Manziel]

When you go back and you mention your freshman year, where did you think you red shirted? 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 headed?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I just remember the first day, going out to that first practice in the morning, you get like one rep. Is that like, young kid who's there early, this is spring practice. Know all the guys are getting done with the season. Then you're into spring, and I get that one rep, and he's like, come back and I'm like, seven step drive and I let this ball go, Shannon. And it might have hit the top of the indoor, 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 ball, Tannehill, like, these balls aired up like rock hard. I need that, Brady.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah, you need a little.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Give me a little cushion for the pushy, is what we're going to say there. And that my confidence man. I went from Mr. Mr. Football at 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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?

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And that question was in my life from that point on.

[Johnny Manziel]

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 can be? So you had self doubt?

[Shannon Sharpe]

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's at the University of Houston. Would coach. Someone has case Keenum there, obviously another real Texas high school football legend. And seven 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 and M was how my high school football program was. So Kingsbury comes out on the field that first morning and I'm getting ready to warm up and he comes up to me and 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 paths will cross again. And I'm nervous. This is Cliff Kingsbury, who played at Texas Tech. This is another legend in mine.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah, yeah, he's a real guy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. He wouldn't know whatever you want to say, but he was him.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

At one point in time and I didn't know the significance of what that talk as a high school kid was going to lead to being on a stage in New York four years later, three years later. But he kept it real with me. Like that was like, yo, I can't take you. I'm here to watch you ball.

[Johnny Manziel]

Wow.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And after that, me. And after the day of the workout, he just sitting over there on the side and he just gives me one of these. Like you crush that.

[Johnny Manziel]

If you would have set out your entire season of the freshman, do you think you would have learned your lesson?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ooh, 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

That.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Does that make sense?

[Johnny Manziel]

Yes. Do you think they would have disciplined you?

[Shannon Sharpe]

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.

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[Shannon Sharpe]

A 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, man.

[Johnny Manziel]

Give me the fattest, dude. Give me the fattest. What you got?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Talk about us bought 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, okay, so you win the Heisman.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We come back, we play Oklahoma in the Cotton bowl smashing smack. Okay, 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 and 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah. And now there's no more self doubt.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 whole shot. I'm toying with them in practice. They're mad. I mean, the only thing they have on me in practice and 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, 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, you know, out there under them lights. That ain't gonna happen, brother. It ain't. It's not gonna happen.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

And that's not me speaking out of my ass. I got Film, right. I got stuff to show you that, like, I wasn't what I was more than what you thought I was, especially as a running quarterback. I led the SEC 1400 yards rushing in my freshman year. It's documented.

[Johnny Manziel]

The first freshman in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 yards and carry and rush for a thousand yards in the same season. The first player to pass for 300 yards and rush for 100 yards in the same games three times. Broke Archie Manning's 43 old record for 500 in total yards on September of total offense with 576. Owns all these freshmen record 11 and 2. Ranked number five, best since 1956. Beat Oklahoma 4113 in the Cotton Bowl. Produced 516 yards of offense, four touchdowns, with a record 229 yards rushing. When you look, when you do, you understand at the time what you're actually doing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 with 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. 2012. It's 2012 years later where I walk down the street every day of my life and somebody comes up and dabs me up and goes. Fifteen 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

You see Alabama on the schedule and you're on the Heisman watch list. You mentioned your 15 point underdogs and 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 Alabama, if I can go to Tuscaloosa and beat Bama, oh, they got to take notice.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 gonna beat us. What do we have to lose, right? I remember being on the bus on the way of 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 that, like everybody in this stadium expects you to lose. Everybody in this state is rooting against you. We got maybe 20, 30,000 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 in a defense like that 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. You know, this wasn't old Mike Leach air raid. This wasn't anything that Lincoln was doing wherever. This was just its own subtle thing, our own, you know, particular thing.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 at us. Luke Joel, Jake Matthews, Cedric Aboya, these are all first round picks in the NFL and some really, really solid players.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right? Wow, I forgot you guys had that kind of offensive line. So that's why they were able to hold up. Joker was the number two pick in the draft, I think. Jake Matthews with a top 10 pick in the draft. You guys were loaded. Mike Evans. Swoops was very underrated.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mike Evans, and that's somebody that, man, what a brother to me, man. It makes me even emotional even thinking 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 thing. We were doing our. We were starting that recipe of that pot and we were starting to cook. And then as that year goes on that red shirt freshman year that we play together, you start to see a kid who's like a man amongst boys out there and like really six five with that frame, like. Like he was always what he was. But that confidence that started to grow in 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. It's 12 years later, I could throw a peace sign. He's going to 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 the fucking world to me.

[Johnny Manziel]

When Alabama started to come back, you looked at reporting. You said, f Alabama, F Saban. And that you were going to score. Why were you so confident? Because 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?

[Shannon Sharpe]

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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So confidence in what we were doing, you know, our. We lost our first game of the year to Florida.

[Johnny Manziel]

Cool.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 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 gonna punt it to who? I mean, could have been. It could have been Amari Cooper. Whoever they had back there was a menace. And we put this play in. Whole week of a special teams punt scenario where we go on the hard count.

[Johnny Manziel]

Count.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It's third and four. We go hard count, they jump, we 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, right? 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. 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

Total team win. Total.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Completely, without a doubt, total team win.

[Johnny Manziel]

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?

[Shannon Sharpe]

We gotta 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 was our best showing of the entire year.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Y' all put it together, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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 the last game on the biggest stage.

[Johnny Manziel]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

Amazing. His parents and family, the way they were with my family, you know, you'll see my dad and my mom in the videos of that Heisman ceremony with lays around their necks. 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.

[Johnny Manziel]

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, Kyler, Murray, Baker Mayfield. You were the first freshman to ever win it and you accumulated 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, see Heisman Trophy season would rank among those guys?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Behind Burroughs.

[Johnny Manziel]

Behind Burrow, but in front of camps, no. What about.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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. Like 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 Blinn Junior College and going to Auburn, I remember that. And then they played the team Oregon that I was committed to at the time. So it leaves an impact and a memory on me. And I love Cam Newton right 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 Kyler's 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. Right now you're splitting hairs on who's greater than who and all collectively as a whole. We're fucking badass, right?

[Johnny Manziel]

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 Shay Shay Profile and I'll see you there.

[DJ Wells]

Yo, this is DJ Wells from Club Five Twenty Podcast Draft Night ain't just about who goes number one. It's about how you show up. And JD Sports is where the future of the league gets laced up. Whether it's Dylan Harper's tenacious two way play or Trey Johnson, sharpshooter from deep down south, JD's got the gear to match every draft story. From exclusive kicks to player collabs, JD Sports is the plug for the next level style. So while the league's getting younger, your fix getting fresher. JD sports with the game meets the streets. Visit jdsports.com to check out their new collection or download the JD app today.

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[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

This is an iHeart podcast.