Johnathan Paul Manziel ( man-ZEL; born December 6, 1992) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for two seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Nicknamed "Johnny Football", he was the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, receiving the award with the Texas A&M Aggies in 2012. Manziel also played professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL), the Alliance of American Football (AAF), and Fan Controlled Football (FCF).
After being redshirted in 2011, Manziel became the Aggies' starter during his freshman season and set several FBS and SEC records en route to a victory in the 2013 Cotton Bowl Classic. In addition to winning the Heisman, he was the first freshman to receive the Manning and Davey O'Brien awards. He was also named SEC Male Athlete of the Year in 2013. Following his sophomore year, Manziel declared for the NFL.
Manziel was selected by the Browns in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft, but his tenure was marked by inconsistent play and off-field controversies, leading to his release ahead of the 2016 season. He pursued a comeback in 2018 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes of the CFL before being banned from the league the following year for violating his contract. Shortly after his CFL release, Manziel joined the Memphis Express of the AAF, appearing in two games until the AAF suspended operations. Manziel last played professionally in FCF for the Zappers from 2021 to 2022.
Manziel was born in Tyler, Texas, on December 6, 1992, to Michelle (née Liberato) and Paul Manziel. He has a younger sister named Meri.
Manziel's paternal great-great-grandfather Joseph immigrated to the United States, in 1907, from Lebanon and settled in Louisiana. He is of Italian descent on his maternal side.
Manziel grew up playing a variety of sports, including football, basketball, baseball, and golf. At Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas, he focused on baseball and football. However, in football, sportswriters, coaches, and parents said he "achieved folk hero status" and was compared to quarterbacks like Brett Favre, Michael Vick, and Drew Brees.
At Tivy High School, Manziel played high school football for four years, beginning with the freshman team in his first year. By the end of his first season, he played with the varsity team as a receiver. He began his sophomore year primarily as a receiver, but started the fourth game at quarterback. He shared that position for the remainder of the season, finishing with 1,164 yards passing, 806 rushing and 408 receiving for a combined 28 touchdowns. His junior year was his first as starting quarterback, and he completed that season with 2,903 passing yards, 1,544 rushing yards, 152 receiving yards and 55 touchdowns. That year, he was voted All-San Antonio Area Offensive Player of the Year as well as District 27-4A MVP.
During Manziel's senior season, he compiled 228-of-347 (65.7%) passing for 3,609 yards with 45 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also had 170 carries for 1,674 yards and 30 touchdowns. He had one touchdown reception and returned a kickoff for a touchdown for a combined 77 touchdowns. That year, he was honored as District 28-4A MVP (unanimous selection), Class 4A First-team All-State (AP), San Antonio Express-News Offensive Player of the Year (second year in a row), the Associated Press (AP) Sports Editors Texas Player of the Year, Sub-5A First-team All-Area (SA Express-News), No. 1 QB in Texas by Dave Campbell's Texas Football, DCTF Top 300, PrepStar All-Region and Super Prep All-Region.
For Manziel's three years as a starter, he completed 520-of-819 passes (63.5%) for 7,626 yards and 76 touchdowns, rushed 531 times for 4,045 yards and 77 touchdowns and caught 30 passes for 582 yards and another five touchdowns. He was the only quarterback in America named as a Parade All-American his senior year, and he was also named The National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) Senior Athlete of the Year in football. He won the Mr. Texas Football award in 2010.
Manziel was highly recruited out of high school; in addition to Texas A&M, he received offers from Baylor, Colorado State, Iowa State, Louisiana Tech, Oregon, Rice, Stanford, Tulsa, and Wyoming. Although he grew up a Texas Longhorns fan, the University of Texas did not recruit him. Although it was rumored that Texas wanted Manziel at defensive back, Texas coach Mack Brown said the rumor was not true. Though Manziel originally committed to play for Oregon, he later changed his commitment to the Aggies, thanks to the influence of then-quarterbacks coach Tom Rossley.
Manziel was named to the NUC All World Game (started by David Schuman and National Underclassmen Combine) in 2010 where he rushed for over 100 yards and threw for over 200. It was the first time Manziel dominated on a national stage. He played in the game as a teammate with Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota.
Manziel received an athletic scholarship to attend Texas A&M University, where he attended under coach Mike Sherman in 2011 and played for new coach Kevin Sumlin from 2012 to 2013.
Manziel was redshirted during the 2011 season and did not play in any games. He made the travel squad after enrolling with the college in January.
Texas A&M faced uncertainty at the quarterback position when Ryan Tannehill left for the National Football League after the 2011 season.
On June 29, 2012, Manziel was arrested and charged with three misdemeanors: disorderly conduct, failure to produce identification, and possession of a fictitious driver's license. These charges stemmed from a late-night fight in College Station, Texas. Police reports stated 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 and tried 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 man, and Manziel eventually pushed back. At this point, the man swung at Manziel who then began fighting back. Shortly afterwards, the bicycle patrol officers arrived. Manziel was 19 at the time, and he presented to police officers a fake Louisiana driver's license that showed him to be 21 years of age. Manziel was taken into custody and reportedly spent the night in jail.
Manziel, after performing well during spring ball and fall practices, won the starting job over Jameill Showers and Matt Joeckel before the season began. His first game was supposed to be against Louisiana Tech in Shreveport, Louisiana on Thursday, August 30, 2012, but the game was postponed until October 13 due to Hurricane Isaac hitting the Louisiana coast two days prior to game time. Consequently, Manziel's college football debut was played as a redshirt freshman against the Florida Gators before a home crowd at Kyle Field.
Although Manziel began the season in relative obscurity, his play against Arkansas in which he broke Archie Manning's 43-year-old total offense record gained him some attention. Manziel produced 557 yards of total offense, breaking Manning's record of 540. Two games later, Manziel surpassed his own total offense record against No. 24 Louisiana Tech by achieving 576 yards of total offense, becoming the first player in Southeastern Conference (SEC) history to have two 500+ total offense games in one season. After Texas A&M's blowout of Auburn in the eighth game of the season, in which Manziel accounted for three passing and two rushing touchdowns through only the first half plus one series in the second, Manziel began showing up in national Heisman Watch lists.
Manziel was launched into the national scene after he led Texas A&M to a 29–24 victory over No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In that game, Manziel accounted for 345 of A&M's 418 yards of offense, including two passing touchdowns. In the following days, Manziel became the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy in most national watch lists and polls due to his performance during the game combined with other Heisman frontrunners faltering.