Johnny Manziel says Alabama aura completely gone: 'Nobody's scared of them boys'

Fire up the takes machines, because Alabama has lost its season opener. Florida State stunned the perennial powerhouse in its 2025 debut on Saturday, leading to some major questions for Kalen DeBoer and his squad.

It simply didn’t look like the Alabama fans have grown accustomed to seeing over the better part of the last two decades. And former Texas A&M quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel is sounding the alarm.

“The one thing that I will say that I think… in the past, you walk in, face an Alabama team, you’ve probably got a little fear,” Manziel said on the Nightcap podcast with Shannon Sharpe and Chad Ochocinco Johnson. “This is ‘Bama, the team that’s been a dynasty. You’ve got a little fear. That fear aspect of what Alabama is is completely gone. And nobody’s scared of them boys. Not Vandy, not Kentucky, not nobody.”

If Florida State carried any extra intimidation factor going into the game against Alabama it certainly didn’t show. The Seminoles were the better team from jump.

The bigger question, after DeBoer dropped a fourth game in two seasons in which he was a 13-point favorite or larger, is whether Alabama is cooked. There’s a lot of season left ahead, but the aura seems to be slipping away. That’s bad news for DeBoer.

“Nobody’s walking in seeing Alabama on the schedule and having any kind of shake, any kind of fear, nothing,” Manziel said. ” They’ve been getting wiped the last couple years. You say that buyout’s deep, but like they’re not going to sit here and let this stand for sure. They’ll go find it in the woods somewhere.”

That said, it’s only one game. Plenty of teams have bounced back from defeats to have a strong season, and Alabama is certainly capable.

Manziel summed up what went wrong for the Crimson Tide. And it was more about what the Seminoles did well than what the Tide did wrong.

“I mean I think (Thomas) Castellanos for Florida State jumped off the page in every aspect of everything,” Manziel said. “You look at what they did, he only threw the ball nine times. That’s super effective to be able to go put 31 points up and you only throw the ball, you’re only 9-of-14 for 152. That’s efficient.”