Johnny Manziel won't be available for interviews today at A&M's first official media availability of the regular season.
And Aggie coaches and players won't be allowed to talk about Manziel's status for Saturday's opener against Rice.
Late Monday afternoon, A&M athletic director Eric Hyman sent the following statement to the media:
“The focus of our coaches and student-athletes is solely on preparing for Rice this Saturday, and in the best interests of Texas A&M and the 100-plus student-athletes on the team, I have instructed Coach Sumlin, his staff and our student-athletes to refrain from commenting on or answering questions regarding the status of our starting quarterback, Johnny Manziel.”
A&M issued a depth chart earlier Monday listing Manziel as the starting quarterback. However, the depth chart was dated as of last Friday.
The NCAA has been investigating whether Manziel broke significant rules by allegedly receiving thousands of dollars for signing items for sports memorabilia brokers in three states.
A&M would never acknowledge there was an NCAA investigation until Chancellor John Sharp mentioned it in an email sent last Wednesday to school supporters. Manziel's attorney Jim Darnell has said he can't comment on Manziel's innocence because of the NCAA investigation.
So the Aggies appear to be dropping hints that they plan to start Manziel, but since they refuse to talk about it, there's no way of knowing until kickoff, Saturday.
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