On March 27th college football may have been changed forever with a revolutionary pro day put on in College station by the one and only Johnny Manziel. Pro day gives athletes with a dream to play in the NFL a chance to show their talents to scouts and coaches. In Manziel’s case he had seven head coaches, George H Bush and Barbara Bush, and many scouts. Many first came from this proday such as; Johnny addressed scouts prior to workout, mixtapes playing throughout, and most of all wore shoulder pads and helmet. Manziel put on a show completing 61 passes out of 65 with 2 drops, leaving scouts with their mouths wide open at the end of the day. As soon as Manziel was done working out, Nike was sure to use this as an opportunity to tell everyone they also had the chance to dress and compete in the same gear as Manziel. Johnny football being endorsed by Nike gives them the chance to use him as much as possible and in my opinion is what his pro day was all about. Being criticized is something that Johnny Manziel is used to and learns to embraced, but I feel he is being push into a certain direction by Nike while he should be focused on his career. When asked about his decision on wear shoulder pads and a helmet, he replied “the game isn’t played in shorts and a tshirt.” Perhaps now we have a real answer to the question; because Nike had a helmet to market. While all the endorsement hype surrounds Manziel, his future employers and coaches have been quoted by saying his performance was a “sideshow and “Circus.” Money is important and I will be the first to say this, but being so young and growing up with one dream to play in the NFL, I feel he has been sidetracked by companies who want to use him. From here on out I believe he needs to focus on himself and try to fly under the radar. While also showing teams he can control and maintain focus with many distractions.
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Analysis by A.J. Scott in SRM 435 (section 1)
They don’t call Johnny Manziel “Johnny Football” for no reason at all. During this past 2013 season, Johnny Manziel was one of the most known, if not the number one, name in college football. Only a 21 year old starting quarterback for Texas A&M, Manziel didn’t waste time showing his talent through his schools football team, completing over 60 passes last season and receiving the Heisman Trophy award.
With all of this recognition, it is no surprise that a high profile athletic brand would want someone like Manziel promoting them. Of course, Nike was the lucky winner. Not only does Manziel wear their brand from head to toe, Nike also took it upon themselves to dedicate a whole ‘Manziel Pro Day Collection’ to him. This collection included all the works you could imagine from the shirt all the way down to the shoes and socks.
Why would Nike want to invest all this money into Johnny Manziel? Well, not only will Manziel more than likely be one of the first 10 that are picked in the NFL draft this year, he will also get a lot of attention once he does get drafted to a team. Manziel left observers speechless at his pro day on March 27th and will only continue to impress America with his talent.
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