It felt familiar. Johnny Manziel scrambling to his right, releasing the ball just as the defender arrived to deliver a blow. The ball slipped in to the receiver in the back of the end zone. Touchdown, a la Manziel's Heisman Trophy days at Texas A&M in 2012.
A clip of the 2-yard score on Twitter quickly racked up thousands of views.
Indeed, Manziel flashed a couple vintage "Johnny Football" moments Saturday in The Spring League, in his first football game of any kind in over two years.
But it's hard to get carried away with what the highlights from the humble setting of the developmental league mean for his ComebackSZN, as Manziel calls it. It remains to be seen if an NFL team will be convinced to give him another shot. Speculation rages, as it always does where Manziel is concerned.
Well-chronicled substance abuse and off-field issues cut his career short after only two seasons.
"I'm able to run back on the field, something I didn't know if I'd ever get the chance to do again," Manziel said Saturday night. "This is a huge step for me. I put pads back on, a lot of people wrote me off to even get to this point. So I'm definitely emotional about it, definitely happy about it. This isn't the end goal for me, (but) I'm having fun again."
Manziel, who finished eight of 16 for 79 yards, professed to being ticked off he couldn't lead his South team to a victory after getting the ball back with two minutes to go. The North team won 11-7, for the record.
The best part of the TD pass to former Baylor receiver Antwan Goodley?
"It felt good to get hit that hard again," Manziel said. "And it was a bonus that it was a touchdown."
Manziel's desire to show that he's changed is what brought him here Saturday, far from the big show.
But he had already raised eyebrows last week when he appeared to blame Cleveland in part for his lack of success in his two years there. He chatted with his publicist after the game Saturday before meeting with a large group of media.
He'd taken the field in front of a couple hundred fans at a high school football stadium on a frigid April day. He played alongside and against players without the notoriety but just like him desperate for an NFL team to see a glimmer of something worth investing in again.
Before Saturday, Manziel last played, on Dec. 27, 2015, quarterbacking the Cleveland Browns during a 17-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in front of 69,115 fans at Arrowhead Stadium.
Manziel is still the headliner, as he has been since those wild days at A&M, and Aggie maroon and his signature No. 2 made up a big chunk of the small crowd in Austin. Even a Browns jersey or two could be spotted. When Manziel threw the first-half touchdown pass, the crowd roared.
Representatives from about 15 NFL and Canadian Football League teams were there to take it in. The Cowboys weren't among them, according to event organizers, but they have attended practices of the two-week developmental league.
Manziel's game Saturday, the second of a league doubleheader, started about an hour late. Finally, the public address announcer at Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex declared: "In at quarterback is Johnny Manziel."
Highlights included keeping a scramble for a first down, complete with a stiff arm, and a 24-yard completion downfield to Goodley. Lowlights in his shared time included a fumble and four sacks.
Manziel said that while he doesn't feel he needs to be perfect to capture the NFL's attention again, he was frustrated with some of the mistakes, including on ball security, a problem in Cleveland.
While Manziel hopes taking this path leads to NFL opportunities, he has said he will play in the CFL if they don't materialize after The Spring League ends after another doubleheader of games here Thursday.
"Being around these guys, being in the locker room again, this is my first real taste of going to meetings, being there early, staying and watching film with the guys after. ... The message that I'm sending is showing up every day, going to meetings, being engaged in everything during the game and practice. I can't control what's going on, and I don't know what's going on in NFL locker rooms. ... If the NFL is something that pops up, cool. If not, I'm going to work until I get back there. So we'll see how things play out."
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