Former quarterback Johnny Manziel admitted to accepting up to $33,000 for signing autographs during his redshirt freshman season at Texas A&M — after he had already won the Heisman Trophy, according to Sporting News.
Manziel, in an interview with Barstool Sports, said he accepted deals from two men to sign thousands of autographs, Sporting News reported. Manziel was in Miami for the 2013 BCS Championship game between Alabama and Notre Dame.
“This guy comes up behind me and was like, ‘Yo, how would you want to make three grand?’ I turn around, I’m like, ‘F— yeah, bro’. I got like 65 bucks in my bank account. I’m waiting on that beginning of the month January stipend check,” Manziel told Barstool. “So I take this guy’s number down, we’re doing it all sneaky, we don’t want to get caught. We’re trying to learn from everybody else who got caught.”
Manziel told Barstool he went to the man’s condo, where he was paid $3,000 to sign 10,000 autographs. While there, Manziel said another man approached him and told him he was being ripped off, offering him the phone number of someone who would pay him $30,000.
“I’m like, ‘F— yeah, man.’ I’m making ($3,000) then ($30,000),” Manziel told Barstool, according to Sporting News. “So this guy is pretty much like, ‘All right, go to this room at the Fontainebleau. All the stuff will be in there laid out, and when you’re done, just send me a picture of all of it, I’ll give you the code to the safe and the money will be in there.’”
Manziel said he wasn’t concerned about the NCAA repealing the statistics from his 2012 Heisman campaign, adding he hadn’t accepted any money before winning the award.
The NCAA investigated that Manziel had been paid for signing up to 4,400 autographs, including in South Florida, Sporting News reported. The NCAA said even though Manziel violated name image and likeness rules at the time, he didn’t receive money from the signings. He was suspended for the first half of Texas A&M’s season opener against Rice, which the Aggies won 52-31.
About the Author
