Johnny Manziel opens up on the smack talk he played with during college

Texas A&M‘s Johnny Manziel exploded onto the college football scene in 2012, becoming the first freshman quarterback to ever win the Davey O’Brien Award and the Heisman Trophy. Manziel led the Aggies to wins over No. 1 Alabama and No. 12 Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, establishing the program as one of the nation’s elite in their first season of SEC play.

Along with his exciting brand of football, Manziel was infamous for his swagger and trash talk. The former Aggie joined ESPN’s Greg McElroy on the “Always College Football” podcast to discuss his time at A&M and his infamous trash talk.

“You know, I think it’s just part of the game,” Manziel said. “When you play at that level of SEC football, these guys are the real deal. This is a real, real league with guys that can absolutely play. So when it comes down to it, I don’t think it was anything too malicious or too bad on the field. But it’s definitely part of the game and something you’d see week in, week out.

“I know after our first year, I mean teams were coming for us for sure. We definitely put a target on our backs and got everybody’s best shot that year for sure.”

Manziel believes he could have made more money in NIL than the NFL

Following that breakout 2012 season, National Championship and back-to-back Heisman expectations were thrown on Manziel and Texas A&M entering 2013. The Aggies finished with a 9-4 record, but were never seriously in national title expectations following losses to Alabama and Auburn in the first seven games of the season.

Manzel went out strong, however, with an exciting 52-48 win over Duke in the 2013 Chick-fil-A Bowl, a game in which A&M trailed 38-17 at halftime. He was selected with the No. 22 pick in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, but his NFL career never really took off. He opened up on the NFL and the possibility that he could have more NIL staying at A&M with McElroy.

“I tell people this all the time, and they asked me this, I really feel like I would have taken a pay cut had I gone to the NFL,” he said. “That’s really what it would have been. I mean, it is crazy times that we’re living, and I think, you know, in a lot of areas, still figuring out exactly how to make it work the right way, where it’s not just the biggest boosters and the richest schools. If you look at A&M, you know, I feel like we’ve put a ton of money in it to our NIL, and it hasn’t necessarily translated onto the field. 

“So, you know, I feel guys who are playing at a high level, who are really noticeable and really marketable, are making a great amount of money off the field, to the point where guys have the opportunity to stay in school rather than having to go to the NFL early.”