The "Johnny Football" craze was an appeal away from never happening. Quarterback Johnny Manziel reportedly came close to transferring from Texas A&M prior to the 2012 season, the Dallas Morning News reports.
The 2012 Heisman winner likely planned to leave Texas A&M if his suspension for an arrest last summer wasn't overturned.
Manziel was arrested last June for his involvement in a bar fight in College Station, Texas. When police questioned him, he produced a fake ID. Manziel, who was 19 at the time, was charged with disorderly conduct, failure to identify and possessing a false identification card, according to the Associated Press. He was jailed over night and released the next day.
The crimes were all misdemeanors, but the school chose to suspend Manziel for the 2012 football season. The suspension was eventually overturned on appeal, and Manziel went on to lead the Aggies to an 11-2 season while setting an SEC single-season record with 5,116 total offensive yards.
Had the suspension not been overturned, however, the source told the Dallas Morning News Manziel would have felt it necessary to transfer to another school.
"The first thing that goes through your mind is how many people you let down," Manziel said in November, speaking to reporters about his arrest. "It was...something I'll look back on as one of the biggest mistakes of my life."
The 20-year-old quarterback has made a few more off-the-field headlines since his June arrest. He caused a stir on Sunday when he tweeted he can't wait to leave college station. The post was deleted, and he later tweeted his love for the Aggies.
His name found its way into the news again in February when he said he's taking online classes to avoid the attention on campus, and again in March when pictures of him on spring break in Cabo surfaced.
A&M football coach Kevin Sumlin isn't startled by the attention his quarterback is getting.
"I've seen it, just like everybody else," Sumlin told reporters on Thursday. "I think being around other guys in the past has helped me, but there's never been anything like this before. ... When you are a nationally recognized person, whether you're young or a freshman or an older guy, there are some things that come with that."
