Yes, I think he’s a senior. I’m so glad that Baylor beat K- State (for Baylor’s sake), but I’m a little sorry that the loss may well have cost him the Heisman. I knew that he was married, but I heard him being interviewed a few minutes ago acknowledging that he and his wife never kissed until their wedding day. That is amazing. I knew I liked this kid! And as far as I know, he doesn’t have a police record, unlike a certain other finalist. Those blots on Manziel’s character are a real shame.
That old K State coach seems to be getting better the older he gets.
On June 29, 2012, before he was chosen as Texas A&M’s starting quarterback and before his first college game, Manziel was arrested and charged with three misdemeanors — disorderly conduct, failure to identify, and possession of a fictitious driver’s license. These charges stemmed from a late-night fight in College Station, Texas.[9]
Police reports state that Manziel was with a friend who directed a racial slur at a man on the street. The man then approached the two of them trying to get at the friend, but Manziel placed himself between the two men saying his friend didn’t mean it and he was going to take him home. The man continued pushing against Manziel to reach the other, and eventually Manziel pushed back. At this point, the man swung at Manziel who then began fighting back. Shortly afterward, the bicycle patrol officers arrived. Manziel, who at the time was 19, presented a fake Louisiana driver’s license to police officers showing himself to be 21. Manziel was taken into custody and reportedly spent the night in jail. [10][11]
Prior to the 2012 season during the SEC Media Days, when reporters asked Coach Sumlin about the incident with Manziel, he replied by saying,
“There’s been a lot of things he has had to do internally, first of all to get back in the team’s good graces and continue to be on the team. He’s handled those and has probably done more than people even know. And there’s something to that because there’s a respect for the position. You have to be able to lead yourself before you can lead a team, and in order to do that you have to have respect to do that. Internally, there has been some things that he has had to complete just to get back to this point and put the uniform on again and he’s continuing through that. So that’s where that is.” [12]
Manziel continued to excel both on and off the field, and was named starting quarterback for Texas A&M only one month later. Because of Coach Sumlin’s policy of not allowing freshmen to give media interviews, Manziel was unable to speak to reporters about his arrest until the 2012 regular season was completed. When reporters asked about the incident during his first press conference which occurred on November 27th, Manziel spoke frankly about the experience:
“I’ve had to make a lot of changes in my life,” he said. “I’m really more aware of my surroundings and what goes on in my life, and I’ve surrounded myself with a great group of people. I have a great family, a great group of coaches here that really all care about my well being and me moving forward as a person...It was a critical mistake in my life, and it was something that I had to learn a lot from.”