Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin defended Johnny Manziel's behavior during Saturday's season opener against Rice. In the smartest move A&M has done, the school is now protecting the 20-year-old college star by making him unavailable to the media.
Manziel served his first-half suspension against Rice and entered the game in the third quarter. He completed 6-of-8 passes for 94 yards and three touchdowns in his limited playing time, but his behavior on the field overshadowed his performance.
After jawing with Rice defenders, who appeared to instigate trash talking throughout the game, Manziel drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the fourth quarter for pointing at the score board. Sumlin is seen on the sideline animatedly yelling at Manziel, who doesn't appear to respond.
While Manziel drew flack for supposedly ignoring his coach, Sumlin insisted there wasn't anything said for his quarterback to reply to.
"When he came off the field, basically I made two statements to him, neither one of which should he have responded to," Sumlin told ESPN on Tuesday. "They weren't questions. They were direct statements that I can't repeat right now. So what's amazing to me is the perception that he ignored me. The worst thing that could have happened was for him to reply, based on what I told him."
In perhaps the wisest decision by A&M, Manziel was made unavailable to the media.
"It's not just my decision in what goes on with that," Sumlin said. "We feel like right now is not the time. Will there be a time? Sure there will be. I think you look back at the events of Saturday in a volatile situation and the way that game ended, I don't think that's a time for he or Deshazor [Everett]. That's been past history.
"Will there be a time for [Manziel] to talk? You bet," Sumlin said. "I think he's done a lot of media, December, January, going to SEC media days in the biggest media - I won't say circus - but the biggest media deal there is.
"I think it's important now, based on where he is, that his focus is to try to be our quarterback and a student-athlete. That's his biggest challenge right now. It's not his challenge to be here. That's me. Like I said before, this is college football; it's not pro football. That will be coming, but certainly, right now, we don't think that it's the right time."
Manziel is a Heisman winner, but he's also a 20-year-old college student. Nothing positive could possibly come from throwing him out in front of the media. With all the negative publicity Manziel generated during the offseason, deserving or not, keeping Manziel in a bubble and letting him focus on football is the smartest thing for both the school and the student.
