While others engage in a self-created storyline about the relative worth of draft prospects, sometimes it’s worthwhile to go to the horse’s, well, mouth.
Former Oklahoma and Cowboys coach Barry Switzer was a guest on CBS Sports 920 AM in St. Louis Wednesday, and referred to Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel as “an arrogant little prick.”
“I’ve said that and I’ll say it again,” Switzer continued, via FOX Sports Southwest. “He’s a privileged kid. He’s embarrassed himself, he’s embarrassed his teammates, his program, he’s embarrassed his coach.”
Granted, if anyone knows an arrogant prick when he sees one, it ought to be Switzer.
But he also had to admit that for all the personal shortcomings, he liked the way Manziel plays.
“I will give the guy credit for the best that I’ve seen,” Switzer said. “I have never seen a quarterback in college football take control of the game like he does and put of the numbers he does.
“He’s the most dynamic college quarterback I have seen in a long long time. I don’t know if I’ve seen one better.”
Switzer went onto compare Manziel to Michael Jordan (also a noted authority on arrogant pricks) later in the interview.
Truth be told, Switzer’s not plowing much new ground here. Anyone who has watched Manziel in college knows there’s more than a marketing machine behind the “Johnny Football” image that he’s so carefully trying to bury.
But that sometimes comes with the territory, and you can bet a team is going to buy in — and yes, it will be in the first round.