Johnny Manziel named to ESPN’s top 80 quarterbacks list of the 2000’s
Former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was pure electricity on the field during his two-year career in College Station, and outside of the extracurriculars that led to his short NFL career, Aggie fans remember the young man who elevated the program nationally.
This week, ESPN’s Bill Connelly released its “Top 80 quarterbacks of the 2000s” rankings (subscription required), including nearly every impact signal caller that college football fans remember spanning 24 years cut. At the same time, Manziel surprisingly didn’t make the Top 10, landing at No. 13 right below former Texas Longhorns QB Colt McCoy (of course).
Like all of us, Connelly remembers the whirlwind of Manziel’s freshman season, which included defeating No. 1 Alabama on the road while earning the Heisman Trophy and destroying the Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl to end the year.
“Texas A&M won 20 games in the Johnny Football era, beat Alabama (and nearly did so twice), and immediately put to rest any silly “Yeah, but can that Big 12 offense work in the
SEC?” qualms as the Aggies joined the league. But that alone doesn’t describe just how much one player could dominate the sport’s consciousness over multiple seasons. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him because you really, really needed to see what he might do next.”
During his two historic seasons, Manziel recorded 7,820 passing yards (69% completion percentage), 63 passing touchdowns, and just 22 interceptions, coupled with 2,169 rushing yards and 30 scores on the ground.
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