Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Johnny Manziel (a.k.a. “Johnny Football“) is one of the most exciting players in college football history and he’s only played one season for the Texas A&M Aggies. He became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in 2012 while compiling video-game like stats: 3,706 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns, 1,410 rushing yards and 21 scores on the ground. That’s over 5,000 total yards and almost 50 touchdowns. Jaw-dropping? Yes. Good enough for the next level? Probably not.
Again, Manziel is only a freshman, so he has at least at least two more years at the college level, so he has time to improve, but there’s no way the Texas A&M coaching staff is going to prepare him for the NFL. In fact, the way they’ll use him will likely hinder his preparation for the next level.
For starters, Manziel is 6’1″ and 200 pounds, so he’s not the ideal size for a pro passer. Besides that, his mechanics are not sound at all. His elbow is entirely too low when he cocks his arm to throw, he release is too low, he has a tendency to sidearm certain throws in traffic and he looks to run far too often.
Again, he’s only had one year to hone his skills and he’ll undoubtedly get better in the coming years, but all this chatter of him being the next big thing in the NFL is nonsense. As of right now, he has about as much chance to be a starting pro quarterback as Tim Tebow and that’s no exaggeration. Cry about it all you want, but you know it’s true. He’s a tremendous college quarterback, but as of right now, he won’t be a solid pro passer.
Jeric Griffin is the Director of Content for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JericGriffin, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
