When 2012 Johnny Manziel Broke College Football

Johnny Manzel I think at this point he's known for more of his impeccable Fallout getting drafted by the Browns in 2014 playing only five games that season where he put up an Immaculate quarterback rating of 7.8 before only playing nine games The Following season and eventually being released going to Canada doing all over there before finally making his way to fan control football people will always remember him as possibly being one of the biggest busts the NFL has ever seen up there with the likes of JaMarcus Russell and Ryan Lee and while it forever stained his reputation there is something about this Young quarterback that I want to answer a question a young man asked me and it's was Johnny Manzel ever that good to begin with so grab some popcorn take a seat and let me blow your mind because you can bet your sweet ass he was snap for Patrick Lewis fourman Alabama Rush got him no they didn't oh my gracious how about that [Music] can't teach that can you and you can't defend [Music] that Johnny came into a Texas A&M team that was ready to turn the quarter it's not like they just had a bad quarterback in fact they were coming off a really solid starter in Ryan tanah Hill who was a first round pick so I think for many it was hard to imagine a serious Improvement at that position they were also bringing in a wide receiver by the name of of Mike Evans and their running back core would consist of three future NFL players with Ben molena Christian Michael and Trey Williams so there was no doubt that at the very least this offense should be solid with the only caveat being that they were leaving the defensive light Big 12 Conference and heading into the ground of pound showing of the SEC and led by a true freshman at quarterback many thought it would be a blood bath heading into their first game of the season against a top 25 ranked Florida Gator team but what would happened in that first half would stun the football World the first two plays went about as bad as they could leading to the Aggies staring down a third and 17 where Manzel would step back appear to pass on the quarterback draw but then head forward make a man miss and embrace contact from Gators on either side of him and it was a first down A&M and we were Off to the Races 10 plays later they'd be setting up for a field goal before the ensuing drive would be a 13-play 81 yd Marathon capped off by electrifying 11 yard run for a touchdown by Johnny the hype he had coming out of high school was very very real now did he have some accuracy issues sure was his decision- making a little slow maybe a hair but did he have the athleticism speed and shiftiness to make all of this scene trivial absolutely now their next Drive was literally the work of mostly two plays one of which being a screen and the other being a Statue of Liberty reverse pass but hey there were huge underdogs this game so they had to let it all out but after one final drive stalling out before the half the Gators would lock in on their offensive plan in the second half and the agies would never even make it to Midfield but that balance let's beat them at their own game offense A&M was running was about to be thrown out like a case when the police didn't Le Miranda her rights or whatever the hell that means in favor of a new strategy give Manzel the ball way more because the following game Johnny was about to break out in exactly three quarters of play Manzel was going to explode onto the scene I'm talking about throwing for 294 yds and four touchdowns to be accompanied by another 124 yds on the ground and two more touchdowns as this A&M offense trounced SMU to the two of 48 points with Johnny accounting for 36 of those and 418 yards of the 600 they would put up they also would go on to just whoop an FCS opponent before Manzel showed us what he was really about Arkansas would come down to College Station on a fateful big noon kickoff where the game would be close for a grand total of a quarter and a half where Arkansas would be able to keep up with this high-powered Aggie offense until A&M got the ball back and it was Off to the Races Manzel at this point was taking huge strides he was getting way better at his pass accuracy his pocket awareness and with the same Mobility as before he would torch them with a final score of 58 to 10 as Manzel will throw for 453 yards three touchdowns and run for another 104 yards with an additional touchdown there as well well and it wouldn't stop with Arkansas A&M would March into Old Miss who would do everything in their power to stop Manzel and ultimately were succeeding as the only points A&M had come up with came off of a huge run by Milana as well as a field goal and a pick six while also stripping Manzel late in the third quarter to put ol Miss up by 10 Manzel will throw another interception early in the fourth ol Miss will be forced to punt and here we get to see what just made him so special they start at the 11 yd line but a sack moves the ball back to the one with 7 minutes left but a 32 yd pass to Mike Evans a 36 yd Rush by milen set Manzel to drop back see nobody down the field makes a man miss he finds his Lane he weaves he woves he scores the Aggies are now down by three om Miss would turn over the ball on down and then Manzel would make short work of the old miss defense this time with poise finding Mike Evans before handing it off twice and then just this gorgeous 20 yard dot over the shoulder of Ryan swo where it couldn't be contested and when it mattered Johnny was just brilliant you would continue to see this as they' roll through a very good lat Tech team as Manzel almost 600 yards of offense would not just be key but necessary as he would run away with this game literally in the fourth quarter with a 72 yd running touchdown as the key points to A&M's 59 to 57 Victory now against a very strong LSU team they would be able to completely shut down Johnny they picked him off three times and held him to only 27 yards on the ground across his 17 carries but now would be a good time to show you how much they relied on Manzel for their offens to function from game one where Manzel had 30 passes and 17 carries he threw the ball 56 times this game while still carrying the rock 17 but Johnny getting shut down would awaken a monster in him the following week against Auburn he would put up such a destructive first half against them that by the third quarter he was back on the bench while the agies had a four 49 to7 lead after throwing for 260 yard and two touchdowns while rushing for another 90 ydd and three touchdowns in 27 minutes of play he then roll into a number 15 Mississippi State and walk all over them by starting them out with a 24 to Z lead in the first half before getting that as high as 31 to Z and cruising out to the end of the game before the ultimate litmus test every college quarterback who's ever played between 2007 and 2023 had to face and was taking on a 2012 Alabama team that was currently ranked number one but Manzel would put on arguably one of his best performances ever and it wasn't just through his yards only throwing for 253 and two touchdowns while rushing for another 92 but how he got them because this Alabama defense was absolutely brutal holding eight out of nine of the teams they had played before this to two or less touchdowns with the exception being that same LSU team scoring only 17 points the week prior but Manzel and crew would drive down on score on every single one of the first three drives to become the highest scoring team against Alabama so far this year where it's best shown by this play Manzel takes a snap doesn't see much steps up in the pocket runs into his own lineman fumbles the ball gets it back before it hits the ground turns around spins finds his footing immediately sees a man wide open throws it in for a touchdown this was 20 12 so virality was just starting to become a thing and this was about as close to a viral football play as you were going to get you just did not see much like this as Johnny would continue to slice and dice as Alabama defense making no critical mistakes keeping them in the game until they eventually won 29-25 in an unbelievable win they would go on to beat Sam Houston State and throttle Missouri in the following weeks and then take on Oklahoma and the cotton ball while that Alabama team would go on to convincingly win the national championship with this loss being their only one of the Season showing just how unbelievably incredible Manzel was and it wasn't just people like me who thought that he would go on to win the Heisman that year as well to become the first true freshman ever to do it and now I wish I could say his second year was even better but realistically it wasn't I mean he did throw the ball way better completing 69% of his passes for 400 more yards than the previous season on less attempts But ultimately he was less of a weapon because he ran for about half as many yards as the previous season with 12 less touchdowns on the ground and pulled his team to do less impressive things winning none of the matchups against ranks opponents except for a Chick-fil-A Victory Bull against Duke but that 2012 season didn't just make Johnny Manzel a household name it generated hype for him beyond the years he would even be relevant his CFL debut his fan controlled football run all of those leagues trying to get just pinch of that Johnny football play that came over a decade ago is why I believe that one insane magical season can really generate a lifetime of hype