Lighten up and enjoy the greatness that is Johnny Manziel

                It’s games like tomorrow that make college football awesome.   Alabama is once again the number one team in the nation, primed to make a run at their third straight national championship.   Nick Saban and company have been in the headlines considering they’re looking to avenge their regular season loss to Texas A&M last season but especially given the recent reports about certain players receiving improper benefits.  But when it comes to headlines, there’s no one more discussed than the quarterback for the Texas A&M Aggies and defending Heisman Trophy winner, Johnny Manziel.

                It was hard not to watch SportsCenter over the summer and hear his name.   Yet time and time again I found myself questioning such reports and wondering if things were as bad as made out to be.  Whether it be his alcohol “issues” or autograph signings at the end of the day it only led to a suspension of one half in the opening game of the season which begs the question…Why can’t we just go back to looking at this guy the way we did last season when he successfully launched his campaign to be the first freshmen to win the Heisman?

                Last season in putting the Aggies on his back and bursting onto the scene in the victory in Tuscaloosa, Manziel had his Heisman moment and never looked back.  Tomorrow represents a chance for him to get the focus back to his on-field greatness and away from his supposed off the field problems.  By January this may not end up being the best game of the college football season.  But it sure seems like this has all the makings of what could be a wire to wire thriller and go down as the game of the year.

                                              Rich Grassle
Don't count him out in this year's race either.

                Manziel proved to all of us last year that he is arguably the most exciting player in all of college football.  He can make plays with his arms and his legs and his ability to escape the rush and turn nothing into something is like no other.  Whether or not he’ll translate to the National Football League is another conversation for another day.  But without question he’s still one of best players in college football which has been masked by all this offseason drama which really proved to be a whole bunch of nothing.

                Should his Aggies defeat the Crimson Tide for the second straight year, he’ll still be all over Sportscenter, but this time for the right reason.  All of a sudden the talk will shift from how long his suspension should be to what kind of a chance he has to win the Heisman Trophy again and what the win does for his Texas A&M Aggies as a contender in the SEC.  I maintained support for him all summer because I was amazed by what he did on the field last year and knew that once he got back on the field to expect the same thing. 

                The bottom line is that Johnny Manziel is used to being the center of attention.  Johnny Manziel is going to have the entire crowd at Kyle Field going nuts tomorrow in College Station in support of their Aggies and their Heisman Trophy winner in one of the most ruckus environments in all of a college football.  I believe he will embrace this chance to turn the attention back to how great he is on the football field.  Texas A&M 30 Alabama 27.

Photo:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1202/biggest-stories-2012/content.4.html