Johnny Football WIns Heisman: 2nd Straight Central Texas Player To Do So

Hats off to Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M who nabbed the Heisman this evening.  Better known as Johnny Football now, he was always known in tiny Kerrville, TX as Johnny Rocket in his wildly successful prep career at Kerrville Tivy HS.  I had the privelege of watching him play only one time in a high school playoff game and in retrospect kick myself for not catching him a couple of additional times. There’s no need for me to recount his statistical accomplishments as they’re well documented.

Manziel became the second straight Central Texas player to win the Heisman Trophy and now Copperas Cove and baylor alumni Robert Griffin is no longer the reigning award winner. However, Griffin is still the only member of the D1 Nation to win the coveted award. It was an honor to have him as part of our Texas D1 Ambassadors team back before he hung it up to concentrate on basketball and track.

Some things that the national media probably won’t tell you about Johnny Football.

-Born and spent his youth in Tyler, TX (Texas’ Heisman winner Earl Campbell’s hometown)

-Mom Michelle/father Paul were hig school golfers at Tyler Lee HS.

How did then A&M Quarterbacks Coach Rossley appeal to Manziel to decommit from the Ducks?

 “Johnny’s going to be a legend from Texas, and he needed to play in Texas,” Rossley said. “We didn’t need to share that legend with Oregon.”

Congratulations to all my Aggie friends.  A great player and a class young man.  It pains me that my alma mater the Texas Longhorns could have had both of these youngsters but did not offer them as quarterbacks so they headed to Texas A&M and Baylor. The road to excellence definitely is defined by OPPORTUNITY.  For those who have multiple scholarship offers in any sport it’s critical that you do your best to evaluate what the best fit is and who really believes in you as a player and a person.-Coach Max Ivany

Photo is circa 2004 and appeared in the San Antonio Express-News.