Whatever Johnny Manziel does, the world watches. Texas A&M’s Heisman Trophy winning quarterback sat out the first half of the season opener against Rice but sure put on quite the act in the second half. Manziel accounted for three touchdowns and three moments that caused many to shake their heads. That includes the always vocal Barry Switzer, who was not shy about his feelings about Manziel’s actions on the field.
“I’m certainly disappointed in his actions,” Switzer said on ESPN Radio. Manziel was seen making a money gesture, an autograph gesture to a Rice defensive lineman and for apparently pointing at the scoreboard as he double back to exchange some smack talk with a Rice player following a touchdown. Manziel was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for that last on-field moment of infamy.
“For him to act so arrogant, I wanted to jerk his face mask and I wanted to grab him,” Switzer went on to say. “Of course you get fired for that now; in the old days you could get away with that. It’s the world we live in. It’s a misplaced value system. When I see this happen I wonder where the core value system comes from, if he has a core value system. This young man needs a damn hell of a lot of development.”
It is somewhat ironic to see a man like Switzer sound off on players behaving in an arrogant fashion, but I’ll refrain from expanding on the pot calling the kettle black idea here and move on.
Manziel does have a sense of arrogance and confidence in him, and it does seem to be rubbing a number of people the wrong way. What was one of the happy-go-lucky stories of the 2012 season has quickly turned in to another tale in 2013 after just one half of football. Manziel’s off-field behavior and activities has been scrutinized to new extremes, but his latest on-field behavior continues to be one of the big topics.
Switzer is not alone in his feelings about Manziel. One mother of a six-year old even took the time to write an open letter to the Aggies quarterback in hopes of getting him to become a better role model.