Look out, boys. There’s a new GPOOE™ in town.

I kinda, sorta knew Johnny Manziel was a big deal.  I didn’t realize he’s this big a deal, though.

By one measure — sheer numbers — Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel steps onto the podium Wednesday morning at SEC Media Days as the biggest celebrity college football has ever seen. Ever.

He has played one season, beaten one No. 1 Alabama, and won one Heisman Trophy. Yet you can make the case that no college player in the history of the game — not Red Grange, not Archie Griffin, not Tim Tebow, not anyone — has bathed in the heat of the American spotlight the way that Manziel has.

Maisel bases this on Tweeter followers, which I think is a little silly.  But it’s hard to argue that Johnny Football isn’t sucking most of the media’s oxygen out of the room these days.  I expect ESPN (PAWWWWWL!) will be falling all over itself with Manziel coverage at SEC Media Days.

But still, bigger than Tebow?  Anybody else feeling that?

13 Comments

Filed under Tim Tebow: Rock Star, WOAH! It's Johnny Football!

13 responses to “Look out, boys. There’s a new GPOOE™ in town.

  1. TennesseeDawg

    Red Grange and Archie Griffin shouldn’t even be in the conversation. They have nowhere near as many Twitter followers as Manziel

    Like

  2. DawgPhan

    Considering that I didnt watch two many games that he played in last season, I would find it hard to suggest that he is the biggest college football star ever.

    People will be tuning in this season though, for sure.

    Like

  3. Merk

    He had an article about who he was dating and an article about his class schedule.

    Like

  4. fatman48

    Is it true that this “Wunderkint” was asked to leave the Manning Q.B. camp, by Archie Manning for not show up Saturday. I’m thinking that Mr. Football’s helmet may be getting a lot tighter these days.

    Like

  5. Go Dawgs!

    Outside of Texans and people who follow college football fairly closely, people don’t know who Johnny Manziel is. You may be able to make an argument that Manziel’s star is perhaps the fastest rising star in the history of college football. He has certainly become a big celebrity off the field and on the field in a short amount of time, and an awful lot of that has been coverage for off-field stuff that’s happened since the season.

    That said, it’s laughable to think that he’s the biggest celebrity in the history of the game. First off, there was a time when the best college athletes were household names in every household, before the NFL was as big as it is now. Second, and more importantly, all you have to do to disprove the notion is bring up Tim Tebow. I don’t like him because he’s a Gator, but I don’t think there’s any doubt that he was a much bigger star during his UF career than Manziel is so far. The guy had a Super Bowl commercial before he even played an NFL game for crying out loud. He’s one of the biggest crossover stars in the history of college sports. ESPN spent more time chronicling his class schedule than they do on Manziel.

    Like

  6. Macallanlover

    You have to respect what Manziel accomplished as a first year starter but it was only one year. He had not even earned the starting role before last August, can we annoint him based on 2012 alone? Let’s see how he does the 2nd time through the lineup. Stars like Herschel, Bo, and Timmy earned their stripes year after year. This isn’t to take anything away from his ability, but if McCarron had completed a pass at the end of the A&M game Johnny would not have been invited to NYC last December.

    Like

  7. Darrron Rovelll

    I think you guys are selling Johnny Football short … I mean ESPN recognizes his “VIP”-ness

    Like

  8. Cojones

    What it is, it is. Manziel, after winning the Heisman , has taken advantage of all the honors he could that resulted from that award. Enter the ESPN media distortion monster to make as many of his activities as possible read on the negative side; that way they milk the gossipy readership’s interest with many articles. By leaving the horns they created on his persona after they milk their distortion’s worth, they paint him as spoiled (because he’s from a well-to-do family and didn’t have to accept anything worth monetary value in order to have a good time) and leave that aura hanging on his neck. Yeah, I think he had a bad hangover and a few hair-of-the-dogs between Fri and Sun, but why is that important to us? It isn’t, but ESPN will bust their ass trying to make us think so.

    Let’s play CFB and leave the rumor-mongers to their whoring activities. That network should be left to just wallow in their crap while we enjoy preparations for the Fall.

    Like

  9. Cojones

    Think he should be made to apologize with his hand on Reveille’s head. Everytime Rev licks his lips, Johnny’s lying. If Rev takes a dump…..Johnny should make sure he has a lot of small plastic bags in his pocket.

    Like