Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, recently suggested in a tweet that he’s anxious to leave college. Specifically, College Station.
The tweet quickly was deleted, and Manziel replaced it with a “walk in my shoes” message aimed at making the point that it’s hard for a guy in his early 20s to be the focal point of so much local attention.
We now know what prompted Manziel’s initial tweet. Reportedly. According to Brent Zwerneman of the San Antonio Express-News, Manziel was miffed over a parking ticket he received.
Specifically, he was fishing on the Texas coast and learned that an officer had written him a ticket for parking his Mercedes (Mercedes?) the wrong way on the street back in College Station, and for having the windows tinted too dark.
The explanation comes at the same time S.C. Gwynne of Texas Monthly has chronicled the events that nearly resulted in Manziel leaving College Station last year, following a suspension imposed after Manziel was arrested for fighting, failing to properly identify himself, and carrying a false driver’s license. The school initially was going to suspend him for the 2012 season (which would have resulted in a transfer), but then decided in the middle of August to put him on probation instead.
Apart from whether Manziel’s game translates to the NFL (a question that Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com recently explored), coaches and General Managers at the next level will have to ask themselves whether Manziel has the temperament to deal with the pressure, stress, and scrutiny of being an NFL quarterback.
On one hand, he’s a kid. On the other, there are now a couple of tangible reasons to wonder whether he’ll be able to handle the adversity that comes from being in the center of the biggest stage in American sports.