Johnny Manziel: bag man at every school

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al.com

 

 Manziel says there was a bag man at every school, including Bama

Published: Feb. 21, 2024, 6:09 p.m.

3–4 minutes

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It’s a moot point now, but Johnny Manziel revealed in a recent interview “there was a bag man at every school around the country if you were competing for a national title.”

Yes, that included Alabama, the former Texas A&M quarterback said.

The comment was a result of a story he shared on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast with Shannon Sharpe in which his father tried to broker a $3 million deal on his behalf while Manziel was still in college.

In the pre-NIL days of college athletics, that would have been the hottest story of the year. Now, the idea of a player being paid is as common as an athlete jumping in the transfer portal.

“Went on for 30, 40 years before,” Manziel said of backroom deals. “It was the same way that was happening when you (Sharpe) were getting recruited back in the day.

“Just keep it in cash, throw it somewhere,” Manziel explained. “We’ll get it later. We don’t need it right now. But for my security if something happens for two years down the road. And my dad did this without me knowing. And I ain’t mad at him about it for nothing. It’s the way the business worked back then. There was a bag man. There was a bag man at LSU. There was a bag man at ‘Bama. There was a bag man at every school around the country if you were competing for a national title. It is what it was, and it was always that way until we’re into the NIL portion of everything now. The way it should be.”

According to the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, his father was working an angle to bring Manziel back to College Station in 2014 instead of entering the NFL Draft.

“My dad went and had a meeting with Kevin Sumlin,” said Manziel, who added he didn’t know about the meeting until 5 years after it happened. “And pretty much went to him man to man and was like, ‘We’ll take $3 million and we’ll stay for the next two years.’ And my dad says this is as true today as he did when he told me.”

Manziel, of course, declared for the draft and was selected No. 22 overall.

He added Sumlin “kind of blows us off,” adding the coach had an ego about him, believing the success was, in large part, of his doing and not Manziel’s. It was a similar situation, Manziel said, Kliff Kingsbury had with Sumlin when he left the offensive coordinator spot the year before.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.

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[E'Town4Bama 111]

Thanks Johnny for being honest! Every school cheated but no one cheats now....................College football has come a long way.........