Johnny Manziel is arguably one of the most polarizing college athletes of his era. In his first season as quarterback for Texas A&M in 2012, he had a major victory against Alabama, the best team in the conference. This surprise made Manziel a star and he earned the nickname “Johnny Football.”
On August 8, his story will be told as part of the UNRELEASED anthology series. In Johnny Football, Manziel’s growing college stardom — and the money and troubles that followed — set the stage for what happened when the controversial player turned pro as a first-round draft pick for the Cleveland Browns.
“I don’t think at that point in my life I really knew what to expect or what was necessarily in store for me in the future,” Manziel told Tudum.
What happened to Johnny Manziel at Texas A&M?
After winning the prestigious Heisman Trophy as a freshman, everything changed for Manziel. Donations to Texas A&M poured in and the university planned a $420 million renovation from Aggies Stadium. But even if Manziel’s name and image were profitable for the university—in Johnny Football, his Heisman is estimated to have brought Texas A&M $37 million in media exposure – NCAA rules at the time stipulated that college athletes could not make money off their name, image or likeness.
“I was tired of not having money,” Manziel says in Johnny Football. “And I certainly saw 45 million Adidas No. 2 jerseys sold and it made no sense. And I had a bone to pick.
But what about Johnny Manziel’s family’s oil money?
According to the doc, Manziel and his former best friend, Nathan “Uncle Nate” Fitch, hatched a plan. During a trip to Miami for the 2013 BCS national championship game, Manziel said he made $33,000 from two different men signing thousands of autographs. “Once it happened the first time, it was like the game was on,” he says. Manziel and Fitch returned every few months to make more money. They started taking bigger trips, sitting courtside at professional basketball games, partying with celebrities, and sitting ringside at the Super Bowl. This was also when the NCAA became suspicious and began investigating Manziel for signing sports memorabilia for money. Around the same time, a history of the Manziel family oil fortune has taken on a life of its own in national sports media.
“I wasn’t giving people anything,” Manziel, who was not authorized to speak to the media as a freshman, told Tudum, “so everyone started (speculating) about what I was doing , and where I went and spent”. money.” When rumors of his family’s wealth began to arise, Uncle Nate and Manziel saw an opportunity to build a myth around his fame (“I think everything we did back then was probably (as) a dynamic duo).
Manziel was ultimately suspended for half a game, but his professional soccer career was short-lived. After a stint in rehab and a meltdown in Vegas that caused him to miss a game, Manziel was released from the Browns in the spring of 2016 when he couldn’t control his partying. “I felt the biggest weight ever lifted off my shoulders,” he says in UNRELEASED.
Where is Johnny Manziel now?
Manziel doesn’t play much football these days. “I play golf a lot more than football,” he told Tudum with a laugh. “I’m just enjoying life at this point in my life.” Even though the former quarterback has stepped away from the spotlight, he believes his story played a role in change the NCAA rules about how college athletes can make money. The organization agreed in 2021 to allow students to earn money through sponsorship deals, their social media accounts, sell autographs and otherwise profit off their name, image and likeness. “I think things have finally worked out to the point where people who change programs, who are legends of college athletics, can get their value,” he said, adding, “and that’s one of the final nails in the NCAA’s coffin, and that’s what I like to see too.
Johnny Football is directed by Ryan Duffy, making his return to the series after UNTOLD: The girlfriend who didn’t exist from the second volume of the series. The girlfriend who didn’t exist tells the story of former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o and the scandal that erupted after the media discovered that his girlfriend – who he claimed died the same day as his grandmother – mother – did not actually exist. Duffy’s approach to the Manziel story is another intimate portrait of a football star who struggles to process his choices after the fact.
“I hope viewers take away a nuanced and intimate understanding of Johnny and the ongoing tension between his life as Johnny Football and that of Johnny Manziel,” Duffy said in a statement to Netflix. “He’s not one of those sports doctors on an old
the player looks back on victory or defeat and reflects accordingly in a tidy ending. Johnny is still halfway through a lot of things, and I hope this doc offers a compelling and honest look at his treatment in the present.
Watch UNTOLD: Johnny Football on Netflix now.
