No extra soccer for Johnny Soccer except it is only for kicks.
After a self-destructing professional profession that by no means got here near fulfilling his monumental potential, Johnny Manziel says he is carried out with the sport that gave him his catchy moniker — at the same time as he is dabbling in a fledgling, fan-controlled enviornment league that was set to start play Saturday night time in suburban Atlanta.
That is merely a enjoyable little sidelight, Manziel insisted, giving him an opportunity to take a couple of snaps in an intriguing new enterprise and maybe assist some up-and-comers get a glance from the NFL.
“This isn’t my redemption tour,” Manziel stated in an interview with The Related Press
Today, he is extra taken with engaged on his golf sport than prepping for an additional soccer comeback.
The gridiron is firmly in his rearview mirror.
It is not like he had a bunch of oldsters knocking at his door, anyway.
His glory days at Texas A&M, the place Manziel was certainly one of school soccer’s most electrifying dual-threat quarterbacks, look like a number of lifetimes in the past, although he is nonetheless simply 28 years previous — an age when he might have been coming into the prime of his profession.
‘I am good with myself … at peace’
Requested if he’d like an opportunity to show again the clock, someway discover a technique to make folks neglect all of the antics and conceitedness and immaturity, Manziel stated he is moved previous that stage of his life.
“I beat myself up about what might have been and what ought to have been and what I did mistaken,” he stated. “I had a really promising soccer profession, however it all bought bungled by the proper storm of all the pieces that occurred and what my life turned. It clouded my judgment of who I used to be as an individual. I nearly resented myself a bit of bit. Now I am good with myself and good with what occurred. I am at peace.”
For a fleeting couple of seasons, Johnny Soccer had the world by the tail. The primary freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. A memorable upset of mighty Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Sufficient highlight-reel performs to fill a feature-length film.
However when Manziel entered the 2014 NFL draft there have been questions on his dimension — a smidgen below six toes tall — and extra critical issues about his smug antics and whether or not he was keen to place within the work to develop right into a high NFL quarterback.
After plummeting to the twenty second spot earlier than he was lastly chosen by the Cleveland Browns, Manziel vowed to show his critics mistaken.
He solely wound up confirming their worst fears.
He performed solely 15 video games with the Browns, together with eight begins. When no different NFL group would give him a shot, Manziel tried to reboot his profession in each the Canadian Soccer League and the short-lived Alliance of American Soccer. Neither panned out.
He appears at his newest league, Fan Managed Soccer, a lot in a different way from his different stops. This time, he is attempting to assist others get the type of alternatives he squandered.
Teaching in future?
“I informed everybody right here, ‘If I can come and nonetheless have an opportunity to play a bit of bit, and that brings eyes to the league and offers you guys an opportunity, a greater likelihood, to go on together with your careers, that is one thing I need to do,”‘ Manziel stated.
The upstart league, which is attempting to convey a video-game spin to a real-life sport, is definitely glad to have him.
Even with all his newfound readability, Manziel stays an enigma.
He talks of desirous to do different issues in his life, however is obscure on particulars. He mentions teaching, however will surely face questions on how he’d have the ability to information others when he had a lot hassle dealing with himself. He appears to get most excited when the topic turns to being out on the hyperlinks.
“My aim is to not go play skilled golf or something like that,” Manziel stated. “I need to be a superb novice golfer, go gamble with my boys on the golf course.”
Whilst he vows to maneuver ahead, there are indications he’s nonetheless dwelling prior to now.
“I can nonetheless return to Texas A&M and know that I’m a legend at A&M,” Manziel stated. “I can return to my highschool and know that with the profession I had, I can maintain my head excessive.”
To a point, it appears, he’ll all the time be Johnny Soccer.
