Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ Okay I’m telling you the Brown’s got the steal of the NFL draft when they drafted Johnny Manziel the Texas A. & M. hell-for-leather QB whose game busting abilities became legendary during his two brief years of college ball.
Sometimes pro scouts in many sports seem to over-focus on an alleged flaw and magnify it and underestimate huge pluses. Examples: when Michael Jordan and Julius Erving came out of college they had less deserving ballplayers chosen well ahead of them in the draft. Both are now in the upper echelons of the Basketball Hall of Fame–pro basketball immortals.
Let’s look at Johnny’s so-called downside:
• Height. He’s said to be in the vicinity of six foot tall. People say: “What will happen if he has those NFL monster lineman roaring in on him? You know those 6 foot 6 380 lb. rhinos who blot out the skies. No problema–Johnny Football faced all those SEC defenses and Alabama with its gang of fast moving giants equal in size, height, and speed to most NFL defensive lines. Johnny Manziel had no difficulty passing or running on them.
Johnny only had one or two not so hot games last year when his shoulder was injured which harmed his throwing ability.
Here’s Johnny’s upside:
• A great arm and an accurate eye.
• A tremendous scrambler whose jitter-bug moves hint of a fantastic internal gyro-scope. Probably best scrambler I’ve seen on a football field.
• A awesome will to win and to find a way into the end-zone. This separates him from other footballers.
• A leader who leads by his physical example.
• An excellent learner and student of the game.
• A tremendous attitude. Look how he handled dropping all the way down to the 22nd selection in the draft.
• Great natural athleticism. Balance, speed, agility, and vertical leaping ability. His hand size is extremely large kind of like Franz List or the Shaq. This gives him tremendous control over a thrown football.
• Highly creative on the field. Ability to instantly read a situation and change what he’s doing based on the circumstances. This heightens his ability to be a game-breaker. He’s got an creative muse that his football impulses flow from.
• All of the above make for dazzling performances. That’s why they call him “Johnny Football”.
Maybe in another year he’ll learn how to drop-kick and he’ll become a triple-threat?
If this sounds like an overly glowing assessment–I think its right on target.
