Johnny Manziel Transfer Rumors: Hesman Winner Almost Left College Station a Year Ago
ByJohnny Manziel was ready to transfer out of Texas A&M University (TAMU) had his suspension from 2011 held up, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Around 2 a.m. on June 29, 2012, Manziel was arrested for misdemeanors of fighting, failure to identify and possession of false identification. The school suspended him for the entire 2012 season, but Manziel appealed.
Had he not won the appeal, an unidentified source told the Morning News, Manziel "would have felt it necessary to transfer."
When "Johnny Football," as he would be known that season, finally addressed the media he said the incident was "one of the biggest mistakes of my life." He also said the initial report of the suspension came during an August two-a-day practice.
"When you get in trouble, a school disciplinary board reprimands you," Manziel said. "They pretty much prosecuted me off the story in the Bryan newspaper. They banned me from athletics and from my scholarships. I had worked hard, and done everything coach (Kevin) Sumlin asked me to do, and then they told me I couldn't play anymore."
The suspension was lifted and Manziel was placed on probation. Soon after, he was named the starting quarterback and ended up becoming the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in college football history and led the Aggies to an 11-2 season and Cotton Bowl victory.
The almost-suspension was just the first time he mulled leaving College Station. Last week he tweeted his intent to leave because of an undisclosed incident. Since publishing the tweet, he quickly deleted it and posted a follow-up message saying he loved TAMU and said "please walk a day in my shoes."
The Houston Chronicle cited an anonymous source with knowledge of the situation in a report stating his angry tweet from last week was over a parking ticket.
According to the Chronicle's source, Manziel had been fishing with friends in Port Arnasas on Saturday, his car back in College Station. When he returned from fishing, he found a ticket for being parked the wrong way and having windows tinted too dark. He then reportedly talked on the phone with an officer (presumably the one who wrote the ticket) before posting his desire to leave.
According to a report by ESPN, Sumlin said last week that he had never seen the media and the general public pay such close attention to one college athlete, not even with players like Drew Brees or Adrian Peterson.
"I've seen it, just like everybody else," Sumlin said last week, regarding the scathing tweet. "When you are a nationally recognized person, whether you're young or a freshman or an older guy, there are some things that come with that."