Johnny Manziel says Texas wanted him to play safety

Johnny Manziel basically ruled out the Texas Longhorns during his recruiting process because they wanted him to play safety.

That’s what the former Heisman Trophy winner told Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay. Can you imagine one of the most electric quarterbacks in college football history playing defense?

Manziel couldn’t believe it either when the Texas brass told him that at the time.

“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,” Manziel said. “They wanted me to play safety. Safety, me. Ain’t got a lot of white safeties out there Shannon.”

Manziel didn’t have prototypical size coming out of high school though. He was well below 200 pounds and wasn’t even six feet tall.

“(I was probably 173 pounds, 175,” Manziel said. “They saw athletic ability. 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. 

“I was just wanting to play football. I would play 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.”

Manziel had the last laugh in college though. As a redshirt freshman in 2012, he dominated. He threw for 3,706 yards, 26 touchdowns, nine interceptions, had a 68% completion percentage, 1,410 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns.

With that, he won the Heisman Trophy. In his career, Manziel finished with 7,820 yards, 63 touchdowns, 22 interceptions, a 68.9% completion percentage, 2,169 rushing yards and 30 rushing touchdowns.

While his NFL career flamed out rather fast, Manziel’s superstardom was no joke at the college level. Can you imagine him in the world of NIL and the transfer portal?

While talking to Sharpe, Manziel was asked if he would play for Deion Sanders if he were a recruit in today’s college football landscape.

“Without a doubt,”Manziel said. “Me and him, being Texas guys, 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 where he interjected in my life at times or sent me a message or really showed love that he didn’t have to do. If I was a college kid looking now, I would say; Texas A&M is the best school in the country. That’s a given. But number two, I would play for a man, for a guy who’s a leader of men, a guy who carries himself the way that Prime does.”